Terry
by Soulfirestory
Summary: Living in the streets of Windmill Town is hard. Terry rises from a street fighter to a dedicated pokemon trainer that changes the world. NEW CHAPTER ARE UP!
1. Chapter 1

**POKEMON**

Disclaimer: This is the combination of my knowledge and pokemon. Enjoy. I do not own pokemon.

_Chapter One: Anger and Determination_

_  
_At the elementary school playground, a gang of boys were beaten down by a single boy. It was not his fault. They surrounded him and taunted him first. The teacher came, and saw him as well as the beaten group of boys.

"All of you, come to my office right now!" the teacher scolded.

In the office the boys talked.

"What's your story, Tucker?" the teacher asked.

"Well, we were asking if we could play basketball together. Terry suddenly attacked us without reason."

"Terry?"

"They were teasing me! They said that I am a loser and I should give the ball to smart people! They kept on taunting me! At that situation I am sure you, Ms. Finn, would defend yourself!"

"We did taunt you because you refused to play together. You attacked us, then we taunted!"

"That's a lie!"

"I am going to suspend _ALL _of you."

"What?!" They all said together.

"Tomorrow, you will be forbidden to come near school grounds. Tucker, you and your friends were looking for a fight. Terry, you should not use violence to solve problems unless it is a pokemon battle."

"But--" Terry has been cut off.

"No buts. Dismissed," the teacher said.

Tucker opens the office door. Before Tucker leaves he gives Terry a smirk. Terry glared at him. The other boys followed Tucker out the door and smirked at Terry.

The school bell rang and school ended.

Terry thought for a moment while he was walking home. "Hell with the world. They picked a fight with me first! Why should I be suspended? If I do not defend myself they will continue to taunt me. Mom is going to be screaming off by this again."

Terry finally reached home. Terry entered the house and took off his shoes.

"Terry, are you home?" a woman called out.

"Yes mom."

"Come to the dinner table. We need to talk."

Terry went to the kitchen and sat on a chair.

"Ms. Finn called. You are suspended again, aren't you?"

Terry ignored her.

"Terry, how much trouble do you want to cause?!" Terry's mom touches her forehead in frustration. "Why don't you get your grades up?! If you are better than them, they will not pick on you! --"

Terry continued to ignore her, his expression carried indifference. He heard these phrases for thousands of times. He knew this and tried to do his best.

"YOU deserved to be picked on." Terry tried to ignore this phrase but became angry by it.

"You are a failure. You have Fs in your report card continuously. You are always suspended. You will _never_ make a living out of this." Terry's mom said and stood up. She then walked away.

Terry rushed to his room and slammed his bedroom door hard. He sat on his bed, fists clenched. Terry's eyes became teary; his insides are burning with rage. He had to unleash it or else he would become crazy. Terry quickly grabbed his membership card for the YMCA and his keys on his computer desk. Terry saw that the coast was clear when he looked from above the stairs. He quickly ran to the door, locked it and ran out as quickly as he could to the YMCA gym. He did not look behind him.

When Terry arrived he saw that the aerobics room was empty. There were punchbags standing and dangling from the ceiling. Terry immediately moved two standing punchbags and began his martial arts training. He cried as he hit the two standing punching bags in turn with his legs and fist. He jump kicked forward with his right leg and flipped backwards in the air. He then landed nicely. Terry became sweaty from his anger and his workout.

"I am going to be the strongest and smartest in Wakefield High. The people who treat me like dirt will have to say 'he is number one,'" Terry said to himself as he breathed in air.

**Chapter 2: Chapter 2**

Chapter 2: The History of Pokemon

_Chapter 2: The History of Pokemon_

The day after Terry's suspension, Terry returned to school. When he walked to his seat he saw people pointing at his direction. The classmates that were talking stopped when he passed by to look at him. They were gossiping about him.

Ms. Finn enters the classroom; followed by a man wearing a tuxedo with a side pocket case.

"Good morning class," Ms. Finn said.

"Good morning Ms. Finn," the class chanted flatly.

Ms. Finn seemed so excited that she became indifferent to the tired students.

"Today we have a special guest. Everyone, this is Mr. Marvel. He is a pokemon trainer and a biologist. I am very happy that we have him for today and he is willing to help us to make class fun despite his tight schedules."

The room's air became less tiring. Some students were looking at Mr. Marvel with interest. Mr. Marvel smiled. Terry looked at his side pocket case, curious of what was inside. _Pokeballs?_

"Since Mr. Marvel does not have all the time in the world, we shall get started quickly," Ms. Finn said.

Mr. Marvel's hand reached his side pocket case and grabbed some pokeballs. _I was right._ Terry thought.

Mr. Marvel unleashed the pokeballs. A noctowl, a sunflora, a zigzagoon, a squirtle and a charmander came out. The students patted the pokemon. Terry looked at them all with excitement then with sadness. Terry really wanted to pat one of the pokemons but he was afraid that he would attract attention because his classmates would run away from him. Terry had a reputation of being a violent kid. That was not true. He only retaliated when other classmates picked on him.

The Zigzagoon suddenly jumped on Terry's table. Terry froze in surprise. The zigzagoon stood on its hind legs and licked Terry's face. This improved Terry's mood, his expression brightened. The zigzagoon gave him a feeling of friendship. This little animal jumped on Terry's left shoulder and then climbed to Terry's right shoulder.

"Hmm. Rosy likes you," Mr. Marvel looked at Terry with interest.

"Terry, can you tell me what are the ancestors of zigzagoons?" Ms. Finn asked.

"Zigzagoons are related to opossums and raccoons. They are named zigzagoons because they have zigzag patterns on their fur and a raccoon head."

"Correct, Terry."

Terry's classmates looked at him with surprise. They all doubt Terry would know the answer to the question. Terry ignored his classmates and continued to play with Mr. Marvel's zigzagoon.

_He is pokemon trainer material. The strongest pokemon trainers attract pokemon._ Mr. Marvel thought. _Maybe I could train him. I am extremely bored anyway_. _But for now, I am supposed to pass on knowledge._

"Does anyone want to hear about the history of pokemon?" Mr. Marvel asked.

Everyone nods.

"Pokemon stands for pocket monsters. Since the sudden evolution of animals and the war we had with Xenos we developed a sport called pokemon battle. A millennium ago, Earth was near devastation. The Xenos invaded Earth and had extreme powers that can control natural elements. Half of the Earth's organisms died. All organisms had no choice but waited for their demise. Everything seemed to be hopeless until an organization made up of a group of scientists appeared. They are the Centaur. They called themselves the Centaur because they believed that Centaurs carried wisdom. In ancient folktales, Centaurs are wise beings. The Centaur believed that Earth itself can speak and has emotions. Their belief was based on their research of ancient readings in Brazil. The readings glowed in times when Earth is in danger. They found a place where they could speak to Mother Earth, located in Mayan Temple of Brazil. The journey to Mayan temple was treacherous but they made it to the temple. The Centaur spoke to Mother Earth. Mother Earth was conscious of Earth's danger. She told them to search for a natural gas that existed all around the world and spread them throughout the atmosphere. The gas would cause evolution instantly to all Earth organisms. All organisms would join forces to eradicate the Xenos. The Centaur did what Mother Earth commanded them to do. It was a lot of effort to convince everyone to believe them but they succeeded because they believed. Everyone began to dig for the gas. After the gas was found, organisms started to mate with other random organisms. This applied to all organisms except for humans; humans already have intellectual powers. Humans have self-control and they are the wisest beings compared to all other organisms. Random mating or combination evolutions, for example, zigzagoons' ancestors are raccoons and opossums. Two different genders of each opossum and a raccoon mated together and gave birth to a zigzagoon. That is why from then on we have zigzagoons and no more opossum or raccoons. Now back to the story. What Mother Earth said was true. All organisms near the Centaur's headquarters surrounded the Centaur. The sight was incredible. Some plants were astonishingly having two legs and being able to walk on their own. Some organisms evolved to look like dragons. The two legendary pokemon stood forward and tried to communicate with the Centaur. The Centaur was baffled of what they were saying at first but when Latias pointed at the Xeno ship with its arm, the Centaur finally understood. The battle against the Xenos was organized into groups of six animals per human because there were more animals than humans. All organisms of Earth joined forces and defeated the Xenos. The Xenos retreated out to space and never returned. Everyone cheered. To honor the animals, the Centaur and those who contributed to the great battle, the sport of pokemon battle was invented--"

"How are animals called pokemon?" a boy in the red t-shirt said.

"I am getting there. Now back to the story. In great surprise, the natural gas also evolved humans. Humans began to be immune to some cancers and became smarter. Many inventions were invented. One of the Centaurs named Frank invented the pokeballs to carry pokemon. Some Pokemon are huge and can be overcrowding in places so he made life more convenient. Pokeballs are pocket-sized. Since these animals can be put into pockets, Frank thought that these animals could be pocket monsters. But the Centaur did not agree with Frank because the name was two words. The whole group wanted one simple word easily memorable. An argument broke out but when a new scientist, Clark, joined the Centaur, the argument was settled. Clark thought that the animals should be called _pokemon_ to settle the issue. _Poke_ as in a poke or small pocket and _Mon_ as in monsters. Everyone agreed with his theory and from now on these friendly beings are called _Pokemon_."

Mr. Marvel looked at the students. Ms. Finn understood everything but the half of the students looked baffled.

A girl raised her hand.

"Go and ask away miss,"

"What is mated, random mating or combination evolution?"

Mr. Marvel looked at her nervously. The bell then rang just in time. Mr. Marvel slid himself on a chair next to Ms. Finn's desk. The zigzagoon left Terry's shoulder and jumped to Ms. Finn's desk.

Each student said, "Good-bye" as they left one by one toward the door.

When every student except the adults left the classroom, Mr. Marvel took a deep breath. Mr. Marvel returned all his pokemon to his pokeballs.

"Kent! You have to be careful of what you are saying!" Ms. Finn said.

"I am sorry."

"They do not have sex ed. yet! This is only the beginning of their middle school year!"

"I thought they knew. I had sex Ed at the beginning of my middle school year."

Ms. Finn sighed and decided to leave. Before she left she said, "I am glad that the school bell rang just in time."


	2. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Training

_Chapter 3: Training_

The bell rang to tell everyone in the school that it is lunchtime. All the students went to get their food trays full. Terry sat alone as always. Mr. Marvel went straight to him with his homemade lunch.

"Can I sit?" Mr. Marvel asks.

Terry waves his hand to the empty seat in front of him, meaning he can sit.

Mr. Marvel sits next to Terry. The food smells so good that he became curious again.

"Chicken Teriyaki with rice?" Terry gazes at his food.

"Want some?"

Terry hesitated and said, "No thank you." He continued to eat his baloney sandwich with mayonnaise.

"Are you interested in pokemon?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You interested in being a pokemon trainer?" Mr. Marvel takes out a form and puts it in front of him so he can see.

Terry takes the paper and scans it eagerly.

"There is a fee for the exam, 36 bucks. You register online. The exam contains written tests, obstacle courses and the ability to make pokemon abide you. You up to it?"

Terry looks from the paper to Mr. Marvel.

"I'll take the exam."

Mr. Marvel looks at his watch. He is taking Terry's lunchtime.

"We do not have much time to chat. You have to finish lunch in a few minutes."

Terry chews his sandwich faster after what he said. Mr. Marvel takes out and scribbles something on a yellow line paper.

"Here is my address, email and phone number. After you registered the trainer exam, email me and I'll train you. We'll meet at the YMCA."

Terry takes out his folder and puts the paper in his folder. He then puts his folder in his backpack. Terry then grabs his sandwich and eats it eagerly. Two minutes later, Terry finishes his lunch. Mr. Marvel is enjoying eating the Chicken Teriyaki so Terry decides to not disturb him. Both of them did not say anything for the rest of the lunchtime.

Mr. Marvel did not appear in class after lunch. Right when the bell rang for school dismissal, Terry is the first one to rush out of the classroom. He jogs home and immediately closed his bedroom door. Terry then jumps in front of his computer.

_**WARNING! Your account will be erased if:**_

_**- fail to attend the trainer exam**_

_**- fail to be on time for the exam**_

_**- quit being a pokemon trainer**_

Terry read the agreement and checks it. He paid attentively to the registration and finished the registration within an hour. After the registration, he is required to print the admission ticket which appears after he registered. It says that "_**The exam will be held on the 1st of July. Number tags will be distributed on the day of the exam to identify you. Always wear them!**_" After he has done printing the admission ticket he quickly emailed Mr. Marvel. He then starts his school work.

Terry checks his email everyday to see if Mr. Marvel has any reply. On Thursday, Terry receives Mr. Marvel's email.

I have received your email. Meet me at the YMCA at 6:00am, Saturday sharp.

On Saturday, Terry wakes up early. He dresses and walks to the YMCA. An African man is washing the windows and glass doors as he approaches.

"Hey! You're early today! The Y just opened!" He opens the door for Terry.

Terry enters. Mr. Marvel is standing on the basketball court already. A tennis net is set. The hoops and the backboard are raised upward to prevent any collision with tennis balls. He has two tennis rackets under his arm.

"Let's play two rounds of tennis."

"What does tennis have to do with being a pokemon trainer?"

"You have to be patient. You'll see."

Mr. Marvel throws Terry a racket. Terry catches it with a single hand with no trouble and stands on one side of the court. Mr. Marvel stands on the other side. Mr. Marvel takes a tennis ball from his pocket and hits it with his tennis racket. Terry's eyes follow the tennis ball and returns it. Mr. Marvel then begins to return the balls with strong strikes resulting fast balls. Terry is able to return everyone of them.

"Try this!" Mr. Marvel smashes the tennis ball.

Terry blocks his face from the tennis ball with his tennis racket. He let out a strong shout.

"I am trying to train your eyes and muscles to follow an object and reacting to it."

"How did I do?"

"You're pretty good. But don't get full of yourself."

"Okay."

"Now let's do martial arts."

Terry spars with Mr. Marvel. He throws Mr. Marvel punches and kicks but they were either blocked or missed. Mr. Marvel quickly does a leg sweep. He tripped Terry. Terry falls and leaves Mr. Marvel a chance to strike. Mr. Marvel stops his fist in front of Terry.

"You are good enough to defend yourself but not good enough to catch pokemon."

The training continues. After martial arts, they play dodge ball. Terry is unfortunately the target. Terry could dodge most of the balls but is still vulnerable to being hit. Mr. Marvel makes Terry do situps, pushups, crunches and all kinds of excercises. He also teaches Terry a new fighting style and plays different sports with him. Sports that are popular, like football, soccer, basketball and many others. He did this for the whole year every saturday training Terry.


	3. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Trainer Exam

_Chapter 4: Trainer Exam Part One_

"The trainer exam will be starting soon. Are you ready, Terry?" Mr. Marvel says in a serious tone during training two days prior the exam.

"Yes sir," Terry does his pushups.

A year passes. Terry has applied for the exam at the beginning of the school year when he is 11 years old. Now he is 12 years old and will take the exam two days later, on the 1st of July.

Mr. Marvel looks at his watch. The clock is exactly 1 o'clock in the afternoon. He then lowers his head to look at Terry.

"There will not be any training tomorrow. You work hard and did well on your finals but things that come up in the future are whole different stories. You must be always ready."

"Yes sir."

"Training ends now."

Terry stops in the middle of his push up and lifts his head. "What? But Mr. Marvel, this is early."

Mr. Marvel usually trains Terry from 6 o'clock in the morning to 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

"You need plenty of rest before taking the trainer exam. It is better to have fun before an exam. Good day," Mr. Marvel leaves the YMCA gym.

Terry gazes at Mr. Marvel until he disappears out of the gym. He stands up and cheers, "YES!" to himself. Terry says "good bye," to everyone who usually uses the gym around him. Before he leaves the gym, an African boy named Josh extends his hand in a 'give me five' pose. Terry gladly gives him a five.

"Yo. Good luck, Terr," Josh says.

Terry leaves the gym to go home.

When Terry opens the door to his house, his mom welcomes him home happily. Terry walks in with indifference. All Terry does is saying "Hi," and Terry runs up to his room upstairs. Terry's mom secretly knows that Terry is training under a coach to be a pokemon trainer. She has followed Terry one day to the YMCA and sees what Terry does from a window. She also has a talk with the African washing the window every morning. He told her what Terry is doing. Terry's mom decides to keep what she knows about Terry and being proud of her son. Every time her son comes home from training, she acquiesces to his indifference. She is happy that her son is trying to accomplish something. Meanwhile, there is no homework in the summer, so Terry immediately takes a bath to play computer games later.

Two days later, Terry wakes up at 6 o'clock in the morning to attend the trainer exam at 7:45am. He quickly rides a bus to the exam's designated place. When he arrives he is amused. There are people of different ages waiting in the exam hall. They all have different reactions. One of them paces around. A group of them are talking about jokes. The hall is overall noisy. Terry receives his number tag that labels 182 at the front desk. Terry then waits quietly in the hall while listening to music to ease the tension. He taps his shoes along with the rhythm.

A few minutes later, a white lady wearing a white cap and a microphone announces, "Examinees! Follow me!"

Everyone in the hall follows her. Terry puts his music away and stands up to follow her. She leads everyone to a designated deciduous forest. The deciduous forest is surrounded by wire fences that have signs that say 'keep out.' While walking, Terry remembers Mr. Marvel's lecture. _Remember. Ignore everything and do your own mission._ _You know what I mean. Ignore bitches and bastards._

When everyone reaches the deciduous forest, the lady starts to speak again. "Your destination is the top of that tower," the lady points. The tower looks like a plateau because of the tower's flat peak. The exterior is made of rocks. "You have to get past the pokemon without hurting them. These pokemon are not wild. They are especially trained under the PTA (Pokemon Trainers Association) by their trainers. They will not kill you. Don't worry." Everyone around Terry laughs at the lady's joke. Everyone already knows the rules written on their registration online. A person is only allowed to take the exam six times after a failure. The exam is definitely not life and death. "If you retaliate when the pokemon are attacking, you fail. There are other things I will not tell you and you have to find out by yourself. This is also part of the exam." The lady stops to look at everyone. "This is an important fact: this is a timed exam. You all have to race to the top of the tower. You all have three hours to do that. When I whistle, the exam will start. Ready?"

All the examinees are in their running stance. On the sound of the whistle, everyone breaks into a run.

The pokemon start to appear behind trees. One examinee is blasted with a vast amount of water, causing him to bounce sideways. Another examinee is nearly burned by a flame unleashed by a ninetails. Terry continues to run. He hops above a watergun attack from a staryu, does a turn to avoid a tackling persion and jumps over a tackling heracross. He lands on a shallow surface. The surface suddenly collapses under Terry. "Whoa!" Terry yelps in surprise and jumps out in time. There are other examinees that eliminate other examinees around them by pushing them aside. Terry avoids them effortlessly.

Meanwhile, behind Terry, a twin glances at Terry.

"Isn't that Terry from school?" the girl says to her male twin sibling.

"Yeah, I am sure. I can't believe he is taking the trainer exam."

"We better avoid him as much as possible. Every time we see him, he is always in a fight. I do not want to end up having a fight with him."

"Neither do I."

Terry continues to progress and the twin's progress behind him.

Finally, Terry reaches the tower. The tower is about 15 stories high. He sees a sparkling rock and then he is distracted by a man next to him.

"Rock climbing is my specialty," the loud man says. The man climbs on the rocks. A few seconds later, a bunch of flying pokemon kidnaps people climbing the rocks including the man who has been next to Terry.

"Okay. So that is not the right way," Terry says. Terry then looks for an entrance to the inside of the tower. He touches the rocks as he looks for a way to go inside around the tower. Terry notices that a certain number of rocks leads to a sparkling rock in a pattern. Terry finds a long gap extending from the ground and between rocks forming a door. There is a tiny keyhole and it seems only a certain type of rock can fit. Terry looks around and a few individuals who are around Terry are gone. They have figured out a way to get in the tower. Terry looks around himself, on the ground and on the wall. _Do the keyholes have to do with the sparkling rocks?_ Terry thinks. Terry pulls out a sparkling rock through the tower and inserts it to the keyhole. The gap becomes bigger and a door reveals itself. Terry immediately goes in. The interior of the tower is incredibly different that Terry cannot believe what he sees. The interior looks like a bright office building within a city. When Terry reaches a door, there is a fingerprint identifier and a note next to it.

Note: Only a group of four can enter through this door.

Terry grunts and crosses his arms in irritation. He does not like working with other people. Terry prints his fingerprint on the fingerprint identifier. There is nothing for Terry to do afterwards so he waits near the door in boredom. Meanwhile, the door Terry has opened remains open. A white male adult with camping clothes quickly rushes inside the open door followed by the twin who has been behind Terry. The door closes by itself.

The man and the twin walk inside the tower also not believing their eyes. They reach where Terry is.

"What! Awe man," the male twin whispers to himself quietly.

Terry ignores him. "The note says it needs four different fingerprints to enter," Terry points the fingerprint identifier. "I put my finger on it already. Now it is your turn."

"Come on. Brother," the female twin says after she reads the note. She puts her finger on the fingerprint identifier. Next, the man who goes inside the door Terry has opened right after Terry prints his fingerprint. Lastly, the male twin prints his fingerprint reluctantly.

"Looks like we will be working together. Shall each of us introduce ourselves?" the white man with the camping clothes says.

"I am Terry Yip."

"My name is Maya Nixon and this is my twin brother Miguel Nixon."

"Finally, it's my turn. I am Jack Van Vincent. Just call me Jack."

The group of four walk pass the door.

"Come on. If we become nice, there will be no fights. The attitude you have now will definitely lead us into a fight," Maya whispers to Miguel.

Miguel let out a "humph," sound for disapproval but acquiesces. He crosses his arms behind his head.

Jack, who is leading the group suddenly, stops in a sudden halt. He turns around and signals them to be silent. The whole group obeys. Out of the silence, the group hears a group of pokemon chanting.

"Something's coming toward us," Terry says.

"This way! And quickly wear these!" Jack throws each of them a face mask and leads them to a narrow space next to the hallway.

A parasect, oddish and a bellsprout walk pass them. The group walks out of the narrow space when the pokemon disappears in their sight.

"Thanks Jack!" Terry puts his face mask in his pocket.

"No prob."

The twins are surprised at the cheerful attitude they have never seen in Terry.

"Let's hurry, we don't have time," Jack says.

The group rushes to the end of the hallway. They climb stairs to the sixth floor which leads them to a battle stadium. The number 'six' is not written. However, the clock is shown.

"Welcome to the 'sixth' floor where doom rises, if you believe in such," a voice echoes throughout the stadium. An Asian man appears at the other side of the stadium. "You all know time is crucial. But you have to go through us in order to reach the top. If time expires, too bad."

"Enough talk. Tell us what we are supposed to do," Maya says.

"Right to the point! I like that! Well young lady, here are what you are supposed to do. My team and your team are going to have a duel one on one. If you win 4 out of 4, you can pass. Or else you will have to duel until you get 4 out of 4. There are only four rules. One, you cannot kill your opponent. Two, you can cheat anyway you want to. Three, the winner will be the person who causes one of us to be unconscious or push one of us out of the stadium. And four, you must answer our question or questions. Your answer must satisfy us or you will not gain victory."

"I'll go first," Jack says.

Jack puts his backpack on the floor and walks to the stadium. A muscular guy comes out from the other side of the gym. He shows his muscles to everyone on the stadium.

"Eww," Maya says in disgust.

"What a big showoff," Miguel scoffed.

Terry stays quiet and watches.

Jack stands in a karate stance and two fists in front of him.

"You will be crushed!" the muscle man says but Jack ignores him. He waits patiently.

The referee walks to the center border of the stadium. "When I blow my whistle, the duel will start!"

On the sound of the whistle, the muscle man clashes with Jack. Surprisingly, with Jack's ordinary build, Jack lifts the muscle man of his feet and throws him. The muscle man did a back flip and puts his hand on the floor to reduce friction. He recovers himself. He nearly has been pushed out of the stadium. He looks behind him to discover his close defeat.

"Seems like I underestimated you," the muscle man lunges himself at Jack. Jack hops on top of him and pushes a cloth on his nose and mouth. Jack lands slightly behind the muscle man. The muscle man turns around. "What did--" the man faints suddenly.

The referee walks next to the muscle man and finds him sleeping soundly. "Sleeping Powder eh? Now that's amusing," the referee says. The referee then asks Jack a question. "Why do you want to be pokemon trainer? You will not gain victory if your answer is not satisfying to us unless you give us your best answer."

"I want to be a forest ranger that preserves nature. It makes a difference in the world. Without trees or pokemon, there would be no humans," Jack says. The referee raises Jack's arm to announce the victory. Jack returns to his group's side of the stadium.

"I'll go next. I want to get this over with," Miguel says. Miguel becomes the next one to walk to the center of the stadium. This time, the person who tells them the rules walks to the center of the stadium.

_I have a feeling this guy is not an easy opponent._ Miguel thinks.

On the sound of the whistle, both of them begin to fight. The opponent punches Miguel but Miguel deflects the punch. Miguel counters with a straight punch. The opponent kicks Miguel. Miguel constantly hits the ground while falling backwards. Miguel stands back up._ Like I predicted. I have to be careful. I must not let him hit me or throw me._ Miguel runs toward his opponent and unleashes a flying jump kick. His opponent grabs his leg and sends him flying. _Aw Crap! _But before his opponent kicks him, he also catches his opponent's leg. Miguel feels that he is getting near the border of the stadium. Miguel switches places with his opponent at a quick second and his opponent is thrown out of the stadium.

"Now why do you want to be a pokemon trainer?" The referee asks him.

"I want to travel the world so I can learn and see more. There are a lot of mysteries in the world and I want to uncover them. I also want to have fun."

"What if it is good to keep the mystery an enigma? Will you uncover them for money? That will make a darn heck of money."

"No. For an immature person like me, I know it is ironic. Sometimes things must be kept hidden to reduce destruction. But if the truth brings destruction but can't be kept a secret because it will cause more destruction, I will tell the truth."

The referee smiles and raises Miguel's arm. Miguel then returns to his group's side of the stadium.

Maya is next. This time the opponent's team sends a skinny man. "God, don't blame me if I hit a girl. I don't have drugs on me nor good at riddles or logic."

"Just get on with it! You don't need to hit me because you are already down before you have a chance," Maya says.

"If you say so."

Maya attacks with two of her fingers for each hand. Her opponent continues to block the attack.

_Pressure points?_ Terry says in his mind. Terry begins to look more into Maya's fighting techniques. _What I see often is Maya as a nerd._ Terry begins to remember the times when Terry sees her with glasses, holding a book, doing homework and staying in the library for hours. _I never thought Maya is this powerful._

Maya ducks her opponent's roundhouse kicks and her opponent hops over her leg sweeps. Maya's opponent kicks forward. Maya spins herself behind her opponent by doing a back fist. Her opponent is knocked forward and groans. Right when her opponent turns around Maya hits her opponent's chest with two fingers from each hand thirty-two times.

"Damn. Your pressure points are hard to break," the skinny man falls paralyzed forward.

"Why do you want to be a pokemon trainer?" the referee asks.

"I did not have any goals yet but I love pokemon. I know how it feels to take care and train pokemon. My parents and the generations before me are pokemon trainers. I am not boasting but my brother and I are the descendents of the Centaur. I will guard the earth like my ancestors did hundreds of years ago."

The referee raises Maya's hand to grant her victory. Maya returns to her group's side of the stadium.

"Well. It's my turn," Terry says. The twins become quiet. Jack gives him a pat on the shoulder, telling him good luck.

"Well, this is my opponent," this time a man with a blue vest and a tattoo on his left arm walks to the center of the stadium.

"That's--!" Maya pauses in her speech because Terry's opponent is an infamous mass murderer.

"The Punisher," Jack finishes her sentence for her. "He is famous for killing criminals. He killed about one thousand people but all of them are deserved to die."

"Maya, how did you know about him?" Miguel asks.

"I accidentally read about him when I saw a book laid open at the library. I got curious."

"So kid. I know time is running out for you but this would be quick. You don't mind a quick chit chat right?" The Punisher asks.

"No. Go ahead," Terry says despite himself having chills.

"Ever since they caught me, I have been sentenced to life in prison and life in community service. I should have been a teacher instead of 'the punisher.' I like seeing young faces. The reason why I became a mass murderer is because of revenge. So I am telling you…"

"Here it goes again," the referee sighs.

"Don't dwell on revenge. There are things wonderful in life and don't waste your life away because of revenge. I know it is hard but you will find something you want to do instead of revenge. I found something that is wonderful and that is meeting young people. So I am telling you now that I am now not the mass murderer everyone feared. You can duel anyway you want to."

Terry's group stares at 'the punisher' in surprise.

"The Punisher, is the past. Please call me by my real name, Marco."

Terry starts to relax a bit. Terry thinks Marco as an interesting person. "I am honored to duel you, sir."

"Let the battle commence!"

The referee blows his whistle. The two male push themselves toward each other. Terry runs toward Marco as fast as he can. _Throw him out of the stadium. That'll do. _Marco says in his mind. _I must not be in the air or I'll create a vulnerable spot. _Terry says to himself in his mind. Terry and Marco's palm clashes each other. Both of their strengths are the same so the force neutralizes. Both Terry and Marco bounce back to their side of the stadium. They both lunge at each other and continue to strike each other.

"Whoa! This is the first time I have seen Marco, fight with an opponent that is equal with him," the referee says.

Terry catches his arm and crosses it behind his head. Terry goes behind him. Terry is able to manipulate wherever he goes. Terry pushes Marco to the stadium border. "Aikido eh?" Marco asks. He untwists himself in a blur and throws Terry. Terry does a back flip and puts his hand on the floor to reduce friction to prevent himself being off the stadium. This also recovers himself. Marco runs toward Terry when Terry tries to recover. When Marco meets Terry face to face, Terry suddenly hops above Marco and lands back to the center of the stadium. Terry stands in his fighting stance and takes a deep breath. Marco turns around and has an impressed expression on his face.

"Not surprising from a thug," Miguel says.

Maya elbows Miguel's ribs. Miguel moans.

_He is light on his feet and is well balanced. He is a disciplined fighter. He will definitely be a great pokemon trainer that brings miracles if he has a good heart. But if he has a vicious heart the world will be in danger once again._

"Leo, can I be the one to ask him?" Marco says to the referee.

"Whatever you say, Marco."

"You will gain victory, if your answer satisfies me. Don't lie, I can tell if someone is lying from my experiences as the punisher."

"Okay," Terry says.

"Why do you want to be a pokemon trainer?"

"I want to accomplish something that will make everyone acknowledge me. I am not a thug who favors looking for fights. I am not a failure or a soon to be a dropout. I like pokemon and being a pokemon trainer. I am interested in the fame pokemon trainers get because of the things they do. I want to be like them. I tried to run away or avoid society but I can't because society is around me. Society is what made me or else I do not exist at all. The only way for me to be happy is to fit in. I will work hard to earn fame and be acknowledged."

Marco holds his chin in deep thought.

"I will not do anything that is evil. If I do my fame will be destroyed. Everyone will despise me. The heavens will despise me. Even I will despise myself. Everything I did before will be a waste."

Those words made Marco smile widely. "Congratulations. And don't worry. I am already satisfied with your answer. I just wanted to wait to see your reaction," Marco chuckles.

The referee signals the guards.

A door opened at the other side of the stadium.

"Good luck and be careful," Marco says.

Terry's group bid farewell to Marco's group and runs to the door. When the door closes behind them, the twin begins to talk.

"Terry. I'm sorry. I misunderstood you," Miguel says.

"It's alright, this ain't the first time."

"Still, can you tell us why you got into a fight with a gang older than you outside of the school?" Maya asks.

"They stole from an old lady who is blind."

"That's so wrong!"

"I told them to hand over the purse but they challenged me to a fight. They surrounded me so I had to defend myself."

"What happened afterwards?"

"I won the fight and returned the purse to the blind old lady. The blind old lady recognizes my voice. She is a definite witness. She is thankful of my deed."

"I believe you."

"So!" Miguel interrupts. "Let's shake hands to forget the misunderstandings. Alright?" Miguel extends his hand. Maya does the same.

Terry shakes cross shakes their hands since Miguel is facing opposite of Maya.

"Alright, it's good that you got along but look at what's in front of us," Jack says.

In front of them lasers are aligned along the walls.

"We don't know what will happen if we touch them," Jack says.

The group crawls and jumps over lasers. After the lasers, they hop over floors that open. They pass smoke releasing Koffings. They reach a maze on the fourteenth floor.

"Dude. Give us a break," Miguel says.

"There is a note next to the entrance of the maze," Terry says.

The right path is where all traps lay.

"What?" Miguel yelps.

"Come on y'all let's go," Jack says.

They enter the maze and find arrows all over the place that points different directions.

"Which one?" Maya asks.

"Everyone look!" Jack calls.

The group surrounds a floor that says: I am invisible.

Maya quickly touches the walls around her. Terry does the same and everyone follows.

A few minutes later Maya finds a passage. "Miguel, Terry, Jack over here!"

"Where?" Miguel asks.

"Stand where I am."

They all listen to Maya and find the passage. They all follow where Maya is heading to by touching the walls and walking behind Maya.

They all successfully have avoided traps and ambushes. They eventually reach to the top of the building. When they reach the peak, they lie themselves down to watch the skies.

"My God! That is over!" Jack breathes.

"What time is it Jack?" Terry asks.

Jack raises his arm so he can see the clock. "We are incredibly close. One minute till the time expires. I am glad we made it."


	4. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: Trainer Exam Part Two_

"It seems half of the people made it," Jack says.

The rest of the group looks around.

"We have tough opponents this year," Jack says.

The time expires. The three hours are over. A blimp lands on the peak of the tower. The door opens and the lady with the microphone before walks out of the door.

"Good afternoon, everyone! The fun is just getting started. Congrats on reaching to the top of this tower! Now, you will all have a break. We will land you on Charles Island for three weeks for a vacation."

"Alright!" Terry cheers. "Whoo hooo!" Miguel cheers. Both boys cheer at the same moment. They look at each other and then run to the blimp.

Everyone scatters and rests at different areas of the blimp.

"Where's Jack?" Terry asks Maya.

"He's on the other side of the blimp."

"I'll say leave him alone for now. If he wants to have company, he would have stayed here with us," Miguel says.

Terry stares at Miguel.

"Look. My sister and I are sorry we misunderstood you. It's just that it is weird to find out that you are totally different outside of school. At school, you are always quiet and solemn. At outside of school, you are cheerful and less quiet."

Terry shrugs.

"Aw. Ignore him. He's needs time to take in information sometimes," Maya says.

"Whatever. Maya," Miguel says.

"Terry, let's go," Maya holds Terry's hand and pulls him away from Miguel.

"Wha??" Terry says.

"Hey!" Miguel tries to stop them from going away from him with his hand but fails.

"If you need to find us, we're at the other side of the blimp." Maya leaves with Terry.

As Miguel says, Jack is relaxing on the other side of the blimp. He is sitting in a relaxing pose.

"Why did you pull me here?"

"To see if Miguel will come. He wants to be your friend but he is afraid to admit it because of his reputation in school. He still wants to remain class president."

Miguel really comes.

"When we go back to school, we're going to tell everybody we made friends with Terry," Miguel says.

"That's the spirit," Maya smiles.

"By the way, this place feels good. The side of the blimp we were on was hot."

Terry stares far away and smiles. _I never thought they would become my best friends. Mr. Marvel was right. I shouldn't judge everything. Patience will eventually lead me to an answer._

"Hey guys! Let's travel together when we are pokemon trainers," Terry says as he laid each arm around each of his friends' shoulder.

"We will," Miguel looks at Maya and Terry.

Jack smiles silently and joyfully.

Miguel quickly changes into his swim shorts in a hidden bush once he lands on the island. "Whoo hoo!" Miguel jumps in the water happily.

"Miguel, stay in the water okay? Terry and I will find a room first," Maya says.

"Okay! Don't worry about me!" Miguel waves in the water.

Terry and Maya walks toward an old couple. The other examinees surround them.

"What? How can we afford that!" a kid says.

The people around the old couple began to yell complaints.

"What's going on?" Terry and Maya force their way in the crowd.

"They say the rent of the hotel including everything is 300,000!" Jack says to Terry.

"Didn't the examiners pay for us for this?"

"That's what we asked and they said no."

"Hey. We are examinees and we are not told to bring that amount of money," a man at the front of the crowd says.

"I'm sorry, then you will have to ask the examiners."

"In that case, we'll have to force our way in," the kid at the front of the crowd kicks the table. A few others, people of different ages behind him follow him and plan to raid the hotel.

In a few seconds, all the people who are trying to force their way inside the hotel falls unconscious on the ground. Terry, Maya and the others who stay behind look at the old couple with surprisingly huge eyes.

"Anyone wants to force their way in?" the old woman asks.

The remaining people shake their heads.

"Maya! Terry! Look what I found!" Miguel rushes toward them. He is holding two necklaces, one is a golden centaur and the other one is a golden lion head.

"Wow. The golden lion costs 500,000 or more if it is sold in an auction," says the old man. "And the golden centaur. A symbol of wisdom and the heroes of the planet. Ahh. Costs 1,000,000 or more."

"I am keeping the golden centaur!" Miguel says.

"Grandma and Grandpa, can we pay you with these?" Maya points at the necklaces.

The old couple nods.

"Miguel, can I have the golden lion necklace?"

Miguel throws Maya the golden lion necklace.

"Here." Maya hands the necklace to the old couple but the old couple stops her hand.

"You can keep it. All the people asking for rent have to do is show us the treasures they found in the water near the ruins of the shipwreck. The treasures all cost more than 300,000. It seems like these goons," the old woman looks at the people who try to force their way in the hotel. "Have no brains and does not observe." _How did they pass the exam anyway?_ The grandma thinks.

"Thanks grandma," Maya says.

The others who did not force their way in the hotel rush to the water to find the shipwreck and to find treasures.

"You can enter," the grandma says. The old couple makes way for them.

"Maya, I want to stay here. Is that okay?" Miguel says.

"Go ahead."

Miguel immediately rushes to a tree shade. He lies down and lifts the golden centaur above his head. He slowly examines the necklace. Meanwhile, Maya and Terry walk in the hotel.

"Whoa. Awesome," Terry says.

The hotel is large and beautifully decorated. The floors, cylinders, building supporters and the wide staircase are made of marble. There are maids, waitresses, waiters and chefs everywhere. It is impossible to think that such a hotel exists on an island.

"Terry," Maya calls.

"Yes?"

"I want to give you this," Maya hands Terry the golden lion head necklace.

"But don't you want it?" Terry asks.

"No. You can keep it. It's my special gift," Maya turns away blushing. She then walks ahead of Terry.

"Okay. Thank you," Terry wears the golden lion head necklace.

"Let's go," Maya says.

Maya and Terry walk to the reception desk to book a room.

Meanwhile, Miguel swims around the shallow waters of the shipwreck. He looks for more treasure and lays it next to the unconscious examinees who try to force their way in the hotel. A few people who is looking for the treasure stops to look at him including Jack.

Terry and Maya leave their backpacks once they find the booked room and immediately leave to find Miguel. When Maya and Terry exit the hotel, the people who try to force their way into the hotel surrounds the old couple. They rush next to the old couple only to find that the others are paying the rent with the treasures.

"Oh. Did you find a room? There are plenty. Your brother found treasures for them to pay the hotel's rent," the old woman says to Maya.

A human sized shadow blocks the sun. They all look and see Miguel pushing a giant golden centaur statue.

"What are you doing you moron?!" Maya shouts at Miguel but she runs to help. Terry runs to help Miguel too.

"Thanks to this boy all your rents are paid. Tell your comrades that are looking for treasure to come back."

After the others return, all the examinees gathered in the hotel cafeteria to eat lunch. Miguel changes into his regular clothing. Everyone eats joyfully. The food is good. The adults drink beer and the children drink soda as a substitute for beer.

After the meal, everyone is satisfied. Miguel touches his stomach and burps. Terry and Maya eat enough to make them full. Regularly, Terry will eat a lot in a full feast but he has a strange feeling about everything. Terry is not the only person having this feeling. There are other examinees that pretend to have fun but are cautious about their environment. The examinees walk in groups to find a room and explore the hotel. Maya and Terry show Miguel their booked room and explore the hotel with Miguel like everyone else.

An hour later, after all the food is digested, at 2 o'clock Maya, Miguel and Terry decide to play around the beach. The three kids change into their swimsuits. Miguel is the first to jump into the water. Terry jumps into the water the second. A moment later, Maya comes out with her swimsuit, a bikini. Terry blushes and turns away. Miguel drags Terry away.

"Maya, we're going to explore the shipwreck okay?"

"Uh, okay." Maya jumps into the water happily.

When Maya is out of hearing distance, the boys begin to talk.

"So, do you like my sister?" Miguel asks.

Terry looks at him. He does not know what to say but decides to say the truth. "Yes."

"Hah! I knew it. SOMEBO— Terry quickly puts his hand over Miguel's mouth. "You know that I can bite. You better keep this a secret," Terry says.

"Okay. You have my word. But you better be good to her or else. I will beat you to pulp even if I don't stand a chance."

Maya waves at the boys. Terry and Miguel wave back.

"Don't worry. I will treat her like a queen."

"What I said is not all a lie. We are going to explore the shipwreck."

Miguel and Terry swim through the huge hole that leads inside the ship. There are massive amounts of gold, a couple of broken wood, and a few old rags. The old rags look like long decayed pirate clothing. There is no doubt that the ship has been an old pirate ship.

Miguel covers one eye and holds the ripped pirate flag. He finds a floating feather and stuffs it at the skull's nose. Terry laughs and accidentally swallows some water. He quickly swims out of the wreck ship and to the surface to breathe. He takes deep breathes.

"Terry, are you alright?" Maya comes over in concern.

Miguel catches up to Terry.

"Miguel, what did you do?"

"Nothing!"

"No. Miguel did not do anything. I just laughed so hard and swallowed some ocean water. By the way, on the way back I saw something on the edge of the huge gap that leads to the ship," Terry quickly swims. His friends follow him.

Terry swims near the ship and uncovers a wooden board and a stick from the sand with a shiny emerald amulet around it. The board is written "Hunter Island" in huge words. The trio swims back to the surface of the water.

"Terry, can I see the board and the stick?"

Terry hands Maya the objects. Maya runs out of the ocean water and quickly returns to the hotel.

"It's just a wooden board. Not that valuable," Miguel shrugs.

A moment later Maya has a hammer and a box of nails in her hand. She hammers the stick to the wooden board in a way that it has been exactly before. Maya forces the stick of the sign in the sand.

"Ta Da! Does it look like what it was like before?" Maya asks cheerfully.

Terry and Miguel rushes out of the water to see. Maya's theory is correct.

"Hunter Island. But isn't this Charles Island? The lady says that we will land you on Charles Island for a three week vacation. " Miguel says.

Terry hesitates for a moment. _Something is definitely fishy. There are already a few clues, minor ones that do not seem obvious because of the difficult obstacles. No one seems to pay attention anymore because of the strong need of a vacation after all everyone has been through. The lady never told us we have to pay the old couple and we have a vacation at the beginning of the exam. As everyone thought, the costs are covered for everything. And now this sign appears, Hunter Island that fits exactly as a landmark. Is this another test? _

"Terry, are you alright?" Maya asks.

"It's nothing. I am just thinking."

"About what?"

"Let's talk at a shade." Terry huddles Miguel and Maya together at a tree shade. "Look. I don't know if you think the same as I do. Something is weird about this place." Terry tells them what is on his mind.

"Hmm. When you mention it, it does make sense," Maya says.

"Aw. I wish this is a real vacation," Miguel says.

"All we can do now is ask others and wait. Don't go outside at night or go into dark places. Don't go alone and stay as a group. We do not know what the examiners will throw us," Terry says.

"Shall we explore the island? There may be other clues," Maya says.

Terry nods. The trio explores the island. There is a serpent shaped shrine, but the shrine is shut. The mouth of the serpent is the entrance. There is something written on the door of the entrance, 'only night scavengers are allowed to enter.'

"That's weird," Miguel says.

"Well, might as well go around it, we can't explore any further anyway," Terry says.

The trio finds Jack and a couple of other adults sit near a waterfall behind the shrine.

"Hey Jack," Maya says.

Jack waves. "How's it going?" Maya asks.

"We're just talking about jokes. It's nothing much."

"Look what we found," Terry hands Jack the 'Hunter Island' sign.

Jack drops the sign in shock when he sees the writing. The adults are confused.

"What's wrong?" Terry asks.

"Hhhhaaavvvee you heard of the myth?"

"What myth?" Terry also becomes shocked to see Jack in such a fearful reaction. This is his and his friends' first time.

"You guys haven't heard of the Hunter Island myth?"

Terry and his friends shake their heads.

"What are you chit chatting about? Can you share with us?" a man behind Jack says.

"Have you guys heard of the Hunter Island myth?"

"No."

"Why don't we do some story telling to let time pass. It's entertaining."

Everyone who is at the waterfall sits down at a relaxing place to listen to Jack's words.

"Here's the myth of Hunter Island." Jack takes a deep breath and tells everyone at the waterfall. "A long time ago, a group of pirates came to a deserted island. They plan to bury some of their treasures on the island and sell some of it to gain some money. Their treasures are so much that it forms a mountain of gold that take all the space of one deck. They decide to rest on the island before they set sail again. One night their cooker disappears. They thought, 'argh. He's an explorin' fellow. He may have wondered around somewhere and will eventually come back.' But days went by and there is no sign of him. The pirate captain sent crews to look for him but one by one, the searching crews disappear. There is only one group with the captain left. 'Hiya! Maties! Let's go find em.' The captain and his remaining crew went together to find the missing comrades. While on the island when they are searching.. one by one they disappear again. But the disappearance of their comrades isn't the worst. As they walk toward they see remnants of body parts next to a plant. There are three more men left with the captain when they stumble upon a serpent shaped shrine. In front of the shrine, they see their comrade's severed head and a blood trail that leads to the shrine's door."

Miguel's face becomes pale. Terry and Maya are shocked too. Terry listens quietly. Maya swallows. Everything fits on what they have discovered today.

"The serpent shaped shrine is closed. On the door there is something written. 'Only night scavengers are allowed to enter.' 'Let's leave,' a crew member says. 'There is nothing good that comes out at night.' Before they can turn around, goblins surround them. One of their comrades is held hostage. 'We have eaten your crew,' one of the goblins said. Dark plague insect like beings start to rise from their comrade's feet. The pirate hostage screamed in pain as the dark plague overwhelms his body. 'This is how we eat,' the goblin says. The pirate crew tries to free their comrade but when another goblin raises his hand, the crew walks backward slowly in fear. Their comrade turns into a goblin after the dark plague covers his whole body. The pirates turn around and run for their lives. Only the captain escaped Hunter Island alive to tell the tale by escaping on a boat." Jack takes another deep breath.

The trio stares at Jack.

"Oh. I am sorry I freaked you out earlier. I'm okay now. Things can be mere coincidence at times. There is no snake shaped shrine around here—

"Yes there is!" the trio says together.

Jack freezes.

"Hey, kid. Might as well call you kid because I don't know your name. Can I see the sign?" the man who has asked to hear the tale earlier says.

Terry picks up the sign and throws it to him. Everyone around him gathers to look at the sign. They finally understand what is going on.

"Can you show us the shrine?" another man asks.

Some of the adults help Jack out of his fear. Neither one of the trio has seen Jack in such a fearful state. _It has to be something horrible._ Miguel thinks. Terry tries his best to not think about it and lead the way to the shrine. Maya, feeling uncertain follows Terry. The examinees around Terry read the description on the door.

"We also discovered bones at the shipwreck…Hiccup. The ship contains… hiccup. Hiccup. Hic," Miguel is too anxious that he cannot say anything. Terry decides to help him finish what he is saying. "The ship contains old ripped and decayed pirate stuff: pirate clothing and flag. As you all know, the ship contains infinite gold."

"It matches exactly as the tale mentions. I believe this is the second test for the pokemon trainer exam," a boy says. He walks next to Miguel and pats his shoulder. "Don't worry. This is part of the pokemon trainer exam. No one will die here. That is 100 sure."

Those words comfort Miguel and Jack. Both of them relax a little.

"I'm tired. Let's return home," Terry says.

"You have the mood to become tired?" Maya asks.

Terry crosses his arms behind his head. "Relax, Maya. Fear is an emotion but it does not do anything but make circumstances worse. Fear does not allow a person to think straight. The truth is, I do not belief in this hocus pocus. I believe this is part of the exam as that guy said."

The others have no choice but to return home. The boy who comforts Miguel and Jack before agrees with Terry. They all return to the hotel. Night has arrived already when they reach the hotel. Everyone goes to the cafeteria for dinner.

"Say, besides us, the three and the other group of kids, there is another group. Where are they?" a lady says.

"I don't know. They will return eventually," another man answers the lady.

The trio, Terry, Maya and Miguel overhears the conversation.

"Don't listen to them," Terry says to Miguel.

"Terry, I found this beneath the sand while you and Miguel are gone," Maya says. She then takes a map out of her pocket.

Terry takes it and examines it. The map seems to be the map of the island.

"Keep it for now. I think it may be useful for later," Terry says.

The next night the other group besides the kids and Jack's group are gone. Jack is gone also. He left a note.

I saw a goblin in the hotel. I am going to investigate with two men. I must face my fear no matter what.

Don't worry, Jack.

"Is the myth true? Is this really Hunter Island? Are there really goblins converting people into them?" a man says. Nervous murmurs begin to rise among Jack's group.

Miguel breaks with a cry of fear. Maya and Terry go to comfort him.

"Let's go look for them," the boy who tries to comfort Miguel before says.

"I agree. There are a few suspicious points I want to share first," Terry says.

Almost everyone turn their attention to Terry except a group of adults sitting at one end of the table.

"Let's have a meeting outside of the hotel under a tree shade."

Surprisingly, regarding Terry's age, adults outside of the group that sat at one end of the table want to hear what he has to say. They all settle under a tree shade.

"Do you think it is weird that the lady never mentions that we are going to have a vacation at the beginning of the exam? We are never told to pay for anything. We did not realize it because we were too tired. --I think what you said is right," Terry turns to the boy that tries to comfort Miguel before.

"I'm David. What you said also make sense."

"I don't believe in goblins, ghosts, or hideous monsters. I think this is a setup. Still I don't know where to start. I guess we'll start by finding the missing people."

Miguel starts to relax. Terry and David's theory makes perfect sense. Maya is less worried when she sees that her brother is not anxious anymore.

"Let's go find them together," David says.

Everyone nods or shows approval.

"I think this comes in handy if any of us disappear," an African girl shows everyone her fireworks. She hands them to everyone. "Any of us can give a signal using these if a comrade is seen or a goblin is seen. Red sparks when you see a goblin and green spark when you see a comrade. I will provide everyone matches."

Everyone starts to enter the woods to find Jack and the others. When they reach the shrine, half of the group is already gone.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?? DIDN'T I TELL THEM TO SET THE FIREWORKS WHEN THEY SEE A GOBLIN!!" the African girl shouts.

Right when the lady finishes her sentence Terry feels something behind him. Before he can struggle, he is put to sleep by a drug wiped on the cloth. The kidnapper put the cloth on Terry's nose to force him to inhale it.

"Terry!" Maya calls. Everyone looks around but he is gone. Suddenly, something grasps Miguel. Miguel has witnessed Terry's capture so he is able to predict the kidnapper's moves. Everyone looks in Miguel's direction to see what the ruckus is. The goblin drags Miguel to the water. The rest of the group follows while another person is captured.

Miguel is sinking in the water. Half of his body is disappearing already. The goblin holds him hostage but is discovered by the others.

"Miguel!"

The examinees surround the goblin.

At the corner of Miguel's eye, there is a hippo like pokemon, a drowzee. This pokemon has illusionary powers. Miguel quickly frees himself from the goblin's grasp and throws a knife that nearly hits the drowzee. The drowzee runs away in fear.

Miguel's other half of his body becomes visible again.

"What just happened?" a guy from the group says.

Maya knows what is happening. She quickly takes her twin brother's place to attack the goblin. Maya uncovers the goblin's mask and reveals a normal person. The other examinees quickly restrain him.

"I just saw a drowzee hiding behind a bush. The drowzee is focusing on me. Knowing that drowzee has illusionary powers I know this is a setup. Just like Terry and David says. I bet the others are just captured. This is another part of the exam," Miguel says.

"Where are the others?!" one of the examinees says to the man.

The man does not say anything.

"Your lips are sealed eh? We'll have to beat you into talking."

The others look at the examinee in disapproval.

"Don't!" Miguel says. "Tortures do not work. I've read many military books and they don't work. Besides, there is a high chance that this is part of the pokemon trainer exam. Examiners have the right to fail anyone if we assault them."

Everyone stands on Miguel's side so the examinee has to yield to Miguel's decision.

When Terry wakes up, he sees the members that disappeared. Terry also sees two holes that look like a pair of eyes. The moon's brightness enables him to see this. "We're in the snake shrine."

"Yeah. We're captured," Jack says. He put his mask back on that resembles a goblin. "And I'm one of them."

A couple of goblin disguisers are behind Jack. Terry remains calm. He quickly lights up a match and blast fireworks through the snake's eyes. The fireworks can go through! The goblin disguisers restrain Terry immediately.

"I know what you are already. But you can't say I break the rules because you never mentioned them."

The others hear the fireworks from the snake shrine. They quickly trace it. Two of the examinees restrain the man and follow the others at the same time. When they reach the snake shrine, they immediately see the smoke coming out of the snake's eyes because of the fireworks.

"I think our mission is to work together and strategize what we are going to do when we are not strong enough to fight our opponents but have to rescue our comrades," Miguel says.

"You've got a point but do you have any other ideas?" the African girl says.

Miguel shrugs.

"Only night scavengers can enter," David reads. "I thought we can enter since this **is** night."

"Goblins are night scavengers in made-up stories but the goblins are not real. So the only way we can enter the snake shrine is when the examiners disguised as goblins come out," the African girl says.

"Let's plan to beat this exam tomorrow during the day and take action at night. No matter what, we're going to get our comrades back and pass this exam. There may be some other way to get our comrades back without reckless fighting. If we just fight recklessly, it is a losing battle. The examinees are more experienced than us. Their combat skills are above us." Miguel says.

"Huh? I thought you were scared before," Maya laughs.

"I was. Thanks to Terry and David. They helped me a lot."


	5. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6: The Beginning_

The next night comes. The rest of the examinees hide themselves, preparing to raid the snake shrine. The door opens as expected. The fake goblins come out. The examinees surround the goblins. David is in charge of the diversion operation. Everyone attacks except Miguel and Maya. The twins run through the confusion to the snake shrine while the door is open. Surprisingly, the adults who did not listen to Miguel, Terry, Jack, Miguel and Maya are there. The rest of the captives are there too. The lights are lit in the shrine.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of there," Maya says.

Before any of the captives can express, the floor collapses under Maya when he steps forward. Miguel catches Maya just in time.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just pull me up."

Right after Miguel pulls Maya out of the trap. Miguel scans the place. There are tiles on the floor ahead of them that leads them to the captives and end at the location of the captives. Each square of the tile is 3ft by 3ft.

"I was wondering why they didn't guard this place. Now we have to solve this puzzle. Which squares will not collapse when you step on them?" Miguel says.

"Miguel! Over here!" Maya points at an inscription.

The distance between you and the examinees is 12 yards long. Only a snake can pass through.

"Snakes move in zigzags. So we can narrow it down to two possibilities," Miguel says.

"That's a relief. But what are the two possibilities?"

"Do we start from right or left?"

Maya scans the area and then turns to Miguel.

"Miguel, I want you to do me a favor."

Miguel nods.

"Grab my hand. I am going to the left corner. If I fall then you can catch me immediately."

"Let's start from the left then."

Maya stumbles on the left corner of the tile. He stands on it for a minute and signals Miguel to stand on the tile she is standing on. Miguel stands firmly. Maya stumbles on another tile. She did not fall. Their method is working. They marked the tiles they have stood on before. The twins repeat this pattern for an hour and finally reach the captives.

As soon as Maya freed all the captives she hugs Terry.

"I'm fine. Don't worry. Let's go," Terry says.

"Where's Jack?" Miguel searches among the captives.

"Jack is actually an undercover examiner," Terry says.

"I see. He made up this fake tale after all. He is an excellent storyteller, he got me."

"Never mind that now. Let's go according to your strategy to get here, Miguel."

The freed examinees walk on the marked tiles one by one. Lastly, the trio walks the marked tiles. The trio and the freed examinees exit the shrine as a group. When the freed examinees walk out of the shrine the battle stops.

David looks at Terry, Maya and Miguel triumphantly.

Jack, the undercover examiner uncovers his goblin mask.

"Congrats. You all have passed the trainer exam."

The rest of the goblin disguisers uncover their costumes. The majority of the goblin disguisers are the employees of the hotel. The old couple, the managers of the hotel is part of the group too.

"Gramps. You really tricked us," the African girl says.

The lady who has a microphone speaker before is also one of the goblin disguisers. She takes out her microphone. "I officially declare the exam has ended. Good job. Unfortunately, I have a few bad news."

Everyone looks at her hoping the exam has ended.

"When I call your number please stand forward." She brought out a writing pad and a pen. "Number 66, 63, 82, 189, 201, 100, 71, 20, 21, 22, 23, 90, 80, 43, 44, 44, 56, 57, 34, 15, 96, 9, 3, 1 and 78."

They all stand side by side. The rest of the group looks at the lady with the microphone nervously.

"The numbers I have called out has failed the exam."

Jeers and murmurs come at the same time.

"The purpose of this exam is to test you based on these requirements; sense of surroundings, adaptation, cognitive skills, cooperation when needed, courage and wisdom. Some of you did excellent and some of you need more work. I don't need to tell you your weaknesses because I am sure you know. "

Above everyone are two blimps. The drivers come right on schedule. The lady on the microphone gives each of the drivers a thumb up.

The examinees who fail the exam, ride on one blimp while the rest of the group rides on the other blimp.

On the blimp of the passers, Jack makes an announcement. "On the same day of the exam next year, get your beginner pokemon at 9 o'clock in the morning. Everyone will get their beginner pokemon and trainer items at the nearest pokemon research center from their home. I wish you all good luck."

Some of the passengers on the blimp whistle to celebrate. The trio smiles in delight.

"We'll see each other in school again," Maya says. "We can hang out whenever we wanted."

Terry nods.

"Let's celebrate by watching a movie together. I've wanted to watch **Evolution** for a long time," Miguel says. "We also need a third partner for this—"

Miguel continues to discuss his plans for the future until the blimp ride is over. Ever since the trainer exam, Miguel and Maya have become friends with Terry.

On the next year of July 1st, the trio meets at their nearest pokemon research center. They sit together at one of the tables in a room where other beginning trainers are. Their belongings are all next to each other around the remaining chair. Terry has grown into a charming teenager. The flaming jacket with a black background he is wearing suits his fiery passion. The lion necklace Maya gave him last summer is under the jacket. The black jeans match his flaming jacket. Maya has become cuter than before. She wears white caprice that suit the light blue hooded sweatshirt. Miguel has grown as handsome as Terry. Miguel wears cargo shorts that suits his red est with a hood, and white short sleeve t-shirt. His red sweatshirt has a special zipper that is one inch wide. The Golden Centaur he found last summer shines brightly around his neck. There are 8 people including themselves that are waiting to get their beginning pokemon. During the wait, the three friends talk to each other.

"Miguel was so nervous that he can't sleep yesterday," Maya laughs.

Miguel's panda-like eyes obviously show what Maya says is true. Meanwhile Terry has a great nap. He has already planned on what type of pokemon he is going to capture in the future.

"What about you Maya?" Terry asks.

"Ummm…"

"Hah! I saw you looking out of the window from your room yesterday! I know you didn't sleep either!" Miguel says.

"So what if I didn't. We saw each other when we stuck our head out of our window because our windows are next to each other," Maya replies.

Before Miguel can give one more comment, a professor comes. The room becomes silent.

"Hello, rookies. I am Professor Snowden. This is my research lab as well as the center of Windmill Town's scientific meetings. I am sure you all know that today is a big day for you all. This is the day for all of you to receive your beginning pokemon and trainer items."

One of Professor Snowden's assistants moves a cart next to Professor Snowden. The cart contains pokeballs that have pokemon in them and a drawer. She stands quietly next to Professor Snowden afterwards.

"To be fair, the PTA made two rules. Rule #1, rookies must not know what pokemon they are to choose for their beginning pokemon. None of you are allowed to know what pokemon is in each pokeball. The pokeballs are mixed every year and are never marked so don't get your hopes up and tell another person which pokeball contains which pokemon."

Some of the beginning trainers laugh at Professor Snowden's joke. Maya and Miguel laugh but Terry is clueless about the humor.

"Rule #2, a random pick will decide the order of the people coming to get their beginning pokemon and trainer items."

Professor Snowden's assistant passes out a tiny piece of paper to each of the beginning trainers.

"Write your name down on the tiny piece of paper and crumble it into a paper ball. I can tell if you attempt to do any tricks because I have other assistants watching you. Sharon will collect the paper balls and put them in this silver box," Professor Snowden holds up the silver box.

All the rookies did what they are told. There are no cheats or tricks. Maya, Miguel and Terry know that there are stalkers as soon as they walk in. It seems that the other rookies know that too. The other rookies in the room pass the trainer exam after all so it is not surprising. Sharon, Professor Snowden's assistant walks to the rookies and collects the paper balls. After Sharon collects the paper balls she shakes the box with whatever acrobatics she can perform.

"Sharon, I know you are a great acrobat but now is not the time."

"Sorry Professor Snowden, I am trying to ease the tension."

Everyone in the room claps including Terry.

"Okay. Back to business," Professor Snowden grabs a paper ball from the silver box. "When your name is called, come forward." He unfolds the paper ball.

"Terry Li."

Terry walks toward Professor Snowden. Excitement begins to rise from his chest. For unknown reason, Terry picks up the pokeball in the center. Professor Sharon opens the drawer and hands Terry his trainer items. Terry then goes back to his seat.

"There is an addition to rule #1. You **must not** release your pokemon until you have left this building."

Professor Snowden grabs another paper ball to unfold it. This process continues for a few minutes until every rookie in the room has picked a pokeball. There are only 8 rookies so 4 more pokeballs are left on the cart after the last person has done picking.

"Before you go, I need to explain the trainer items and terms."

Professor Snowden takes out a red electronic device from his left pocket and a gray deice from his right pocket.

"The red device I am holding with my left hand is a **Pokedex**. Another words, pokemon encyclopedia and analyzer. This hand held device not only contains all pokemon and pokemon related data; this device also contains traveling information. The pokedex contain maps, tell time and contain a compass. Pokedex must be upgraded often. To upgrade them, send the pokedex to me through a telegram. The upgrade time will depend on how long you have not upgraded the pokedex. If you upgrade the pokedex often, it will only take 5 minutes.

In my right hand is the **SB**. Short form of **Storage Bin**. Storage bins are for minimizing your belongings so you do not have to carry them through your journey. SB is password protected. You must follow the directions once you turn on the SB to set a password. Despite it being protected, you must not be careless. There are hackers who can steal your items. In terms of data, there is a limit to how much you carry in your storage bin. A storage bin can carry no more than 2000 pounds. Storage bin actually digitizes items so it can fit in a tiny handheld PC. And don't worry, storage bins **cannot** digitize organisms. You don't have to worry about accidentally digitizing your friend or your pokemon. They are designed to be like that. And remember this well. All you have to carry is a pokedex, SB and cell- phone. If you do not have side pockets or your side pockets cannot fit these 2 items, you can buy a tiny rucksack to carry them. You can digitize everything you carry if you want to but I suggest not digitize pokeballs and your pokedex. They are going to be used often. A pokemon you want to capture may have ran away by the time you unload the item."

Professor Snowden puts away the pokedex and storage bin. He then takes out a paper and card on each of his hand. Sharon starts to pass out papers to all the rookies.

"There are laws pokemon trainers have to abide. If you violate them, there will be punishment from the law enforcement. We will go over them together.

_**Pokemon Trainer Laws:**_

_**1.Each trainer is only allowed to have 6 pokemon each.**_

_**2.Stealing other people's pokemon is prohibited.**_

_**3.Pokemon and Trainer battles are allowed on courts and stadiums only.**_

_**4.Poaching pokemon (selling pokemon on markets) is not allowed.**_

_**5.Any means of hurting pokemon is not allowed unless in battles. **_

_**6.Once a battle ends, retaliation aftermath is not allowed.**_

_**7.Pokemon capture can only be allowed for pokemon trainers.**_

Finally, the trainer license. The trainer license is like a credit card. It carries one billion dollars; that is the money you can use for a lifetime. You can add money anytime into the card. You must go to a bank to add money. If you lost your license _you must report it immediately_. There are cases in which stolen licenses are used for criminal acts. You will be blamed for them despite not committing these crimes so be careful. Your trainer license is another form of ID.

That's all for the items I am going to distribute. I am sorry but you are going to have to buy pokeballs and other pokemon trainer related materials at stores. A trainer may carry only six pokeballs. If a capture is a failure, the pokeball will bounce back to you and you can use it again until you have captured the pokemon. Pick a pokemon wisely and capture it. You may release your pokemon into the wild but you may not have more than six pokemon. If you caught your 7th pokemon, the pokeball will automatically disappear. You will have to return to a Pokemon Research Institute like this one we are in to decide which pokemon to release in the wild. That is all. I wish you all good luck on your journey. Good bye."

Everyone sets up their SB and digitizes their belongings in their SB. Once they are done, they leave the research center.

"I think we better carry a tiny bag that carries the SB, pokedex, poke&alls and cell-phone. Let's return home for a few minutes to get the money we earned during our after school job. We need the money to go buy pokeballs and pokemon food," Maya says.

Maya and Miguel return to their home and Terry does the same. Terry carries a small backpack and wears it diagonally from his shoulder. He digitizes his wallet. Terry lastly put the pokedex and SB in his poke. Terry goes to the bathroom before he exits the house. Maya carries a waist poke. Miguel carries a tiny rucksack.

The three friends meet in front of the pokemon store.

Terry looks at Miguel curiously.

"I told him he needs a smaller carrier but he said this is the smallest one he has and he does not plan to buy another one," Maya says.

Terry shrugs. "Let's go."

Each of the friends buys 6 pokeballs and a bag of pokemon food. Pokemon food are digitized and the pokeballs stay in their carriers. The rest of the money is added to their pokemon license at the bank.

"We have everything?" Terry asks.

"Yeah," both of the twins say.

"But shouldn't we get to know our pokemon's first?" Maya says.

Terry nods in agreement. In a few seconds, the trio releases their pokemon.

"Wow. A charmander," Terry says to himself.

"A treeco," Miguel says to himself.

"A pichu!" Maya says cheerfully. The pichu jumps to Maya and Maya hugs it happily.

"Yo. Whatup," and a Tarzan-like yell come out of nowhere.

"Who said that?" Terry looks around.

"Whoa!"

"What?" Maya asks in confusion.

"Dude! How do you know English?"

Both Terry and Maya look at Miguel's Treeko. The other pokemon follow their trainers. They then look back at Miguel.

"Man. I was born from the streets and I don't know why. Species like me are supposed to be in forests ya know. Life on the streets is hard. I have to teach myself some knowledge. I just picked up a few books and listened to some conversations. A human picked a fight with me. I often win humans but this one is different. I lost and he said I will not be alone anymore. And then I ended here."

"Coooooooool."

"Call me Tarzan."

"That treeco sure lacks naming sense," Terry whispers to Maya. Maya nods.

Miguel glares at Terry. Terry's feels his hair is standing on one end. Maya nearly feels the same way. Miguel turns away from them.

"Then you're Tarzan!" Miguel points happily at his beginning pokemon and new friend.

Pichu pulls Maya's caprice. Maya lifts Pichu off the ground and carries it. Both of them then look at Terry and his charmander. Terry stares at his tail and then to charmander's eyes. Terry does not know how to communicate with it. He has a hard time communicating with other humans already. Terry reaches out his hand slowly and pats charmander's head. The charmander climbs to Terry's head to try ride on it but it accidentally lit Terry's hair on fire.

"Ah! Hot! Hot! Hot!"

Maya quickly unloads a water bottle while Terry rolls on the floor to get the flames out. As soon as Maya gets her water bottle out, she immediately runs toward Terry and pours water on his head. Terry relaxes afterward. Terry lies on the ground facing upward. The charmander moves next to Terry and frowns.

"It's okay charmander. I know you want to pat my head too but be careful of your tail."

The charmander still frowns. His tail is away from Terry and he stands above Terry. Terry looks up at him. The charmander cries.

"Geez. I forgive you. Don't worry about it."

The charmander's cries begin to wither.

"I like looking at your tail. Your tail is like a torch that lights up the darkness. It is like a light that never disappears in a heart, human and pokemon alike. A light that never gives up in the brink of despair. It is a good sign. But don't burn anything next time. But you can burn in battles next time, got it?"

"Yes," the charmander says in pokemon language.

"Do you want to be called **Torch** from now on?"

"Definitely. I like what you said before."

"Okay. From now on, your name is Torch."

Torch hugs Terry's head.

"I think I'll call Terry firehead next time," Miguels says. Maya immediately hit his head.

"Not funny," she whispers to Miguel.

"Sorry."

"Free Reese's. Swirls on every bite! Caramel and peanut butter taste! Chocolate on the outside! Everyone try one!" a man says. He has a cart that sells that type of candy.

"Pichu!" Maya gasps.

The pichu is gone from Maya's sight.

"Hey! What are you doing here! Get back to your trainer!"

The pichu steals a small bag of Reese's. It still has some scraps of Reese's around it's lips and returns to Maya.

The seller chases the pichu around Maya.

"STOP!"

The pichu hides behind Maya. The man stops in a halt.

"How much is all the Reese's you have?" Maya asks.

"A bag is one dollar. And your pichu only ate one bag before I discover it. Your pichu did not eat all the Reese's."

"Then I'll buy 8 bags. The one my pichu ate and the one it is holding is included."

"That's a deal young lady."

Maya pays the seller 8 bucks. The Reese's seller immediately gives Maya six bags. The Reese's seller thanks Maya and continues his advertising. Maya digitizes the Reese's in her SB. When she finishes, her pichu looks at her sadly.

"No. no. Those are for later. I won't let you eat them if you don't share the Reese's you have with your new friends."

The pichu looks at Maya for a few seconds and gives her a Reese's. The pichu then walks to Torch and Tarzan. It gives each of them a Reese's. The pichu does the same for Miguel and Terry.

"Thank you," Miguel and Terry say.

The pichu, Torch and Tarzan eat happily sitting together.

"I think I'll call my pichu buttercup," Maya says to Miguel and Terry.

"It suits it. That's one Reese's peanut butter cup addict over there," Miguel says. Maya and Terry follows.

"Pichu, do you want me to call you buttercup from now on?" Maya asks.

But the pichu is too busy chewing the Reese's happily.

"Buttercup really fits it," Terry grins.

"Pichu, from now on your name is Buttercup. Okay?" Maya says.

The three beginning pokemon eat happily together.


	6. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7: Life and Death_

"So! Let our journey begin!" Terry shouts.

The trio leaves town to start their journey as pokemon trainers. They are oblivious to the danger that lurks behind the trees.

One of the trainer rookies in Windmill Town walks by himself in the woods. He hears a rustle from the bushes and turns around. No one is there. He continues to walk. After a few steps everything blacks out and he falls heavily on the ground. The men steal all his money and pokeballs.

Meanwhile, Terry and Miguel are singing.

"_We are the champion. We are the champion and-- huh?!"_

Suddenly a group of five men attacks them. The trio is more alert than before due to the supervision and training under Mr. Marvel. The men fail to sneak behind the three friends.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Maya says.

"Damn these brats!" one of them says.

"Giant, it's no big deal. They are different from the rest but that doesn't mean they are powerful than we are." The other one says.

"If you say so, Coyote."

The trio gets ready for a fight.

"Phantom!"

"Okay!"

Phantom unleashes all his pokeballs.

"They asked for it!" Terry yells.

The trio unleashes their pokeballs. Torch, Tarzan and Buttercup comes out.

"Terry, do you know these guys?" Maya asks.

"No. But I have a feeling that they want to kill us."

Terry's group scatters to take on each of the bandits.

Torch slashes one of Phantom's pokemon's faces. While the pokemon are distracted by Torch, Terry knocks them unconscious with a bone-crushing kick or punch. If Torch's distraction fails, Terry punches the pokemon straight at its face. Tarzan tackles his opponents while Miguel does the secondary finishing blows. Buttercup crawls over her opponents like a parasite and paralyzes them with her electricity. Buttercup is fast enough to escape from their grasps. Maya hits their pressure points. Sometimes Maya and Buttercup alternate their combos. Maya paralyzes the enemy and Buttercup electrocutes.

"Phantom, your pokemon are weak. Let me try."

Another bandit with a scar unleashes his pokeballs.

Terry's group mixes together to do combos. They catch the man's pokemon off guard and defeat them. Unfortunately, Terry's group's stamina is running out.

"Tired already?" Giant says.

"_Their pokemon lack abilities but their trainers' fighting skills are exceptional. In a battle like this their skills make up their pokemon's lacking abilities. If we do not finish them off, they will become a threat. They will become even more powerful when their pokemon become powerful,_" Phantom says in his mind. "Good going, Zombie," he then says.

Zombie looks at him strangely, not know if it is sarcasm or a good comment.

"It's my homies' turn," the bandit with a cap releases his pokemon.

This time cap's last pokemon self-destructs causing Terry's team to be injured.

"Are you all okay?"

Miguel gives Terry a thumb showing fine. Maya nods.

"Step aside, Caveman," Coyote says.

The first pokemon rushes toward Terry and knocks him in the air.

"Terry!" the twins shout. They are attacked while being caught off guard. Buttercup and Tarzan fights along with them.

The pokemon gives Terry a skull bash on the ribs. The impact causes Terry to cough blood. Terry falls on the ground in a thud. The twins counterattack the other team's pokemon. Terry slowly gets himself back together. Torch looks at Terry with extreme worry. Terry wipes the blood off his cheek and smiles at Torch. Torch then fights with determination and Terry fights alongside with him.

After a long struggle, Terry's team manages to defeat Coyote's pokemon. They are injured and extremely tired.

"I…can't move anymore…" Miguel sinks to his knees and breathes quickly. He has a little bit of blood on his left cheek.

"No. We can't…" Terry coughs in the middle of the sentence "…give up now. We worked hard..."

"…You guys…are ...weak," Maya says.

"Heh… I'd expect Terry to say that… But not from you. He hehe…" Miguel laughs.

"This is getting out of hand," Coyote says.

"It's my turn!" Giant says. This time Giant fights with his pokemon.

The team combines strengths again to defeat the pokemon. Terry's team attacks are slowing down. Giant and his pokemon are slowly overwhelming them.

Coyote and the rest of the bandits whisper another strategy.

Terry falls and recovers next to Torch's tail, coughing out dust. When Terry looks at Torch's tail, an idea appears in his mind. Terry whispers to Torch. Torch nods.

Fortunately, most of Giant's pokemon are normal types. Torch runs as fast as he can and whips each of Giant's pokemon with his flaming tail. Torch's small flame eventually evokes into a huge flame that burns the pokemon. All of Giant's pokemon are defeated except a lotad. The lotad shoots a water gun at Torch.

"Torch!"

Terry's distraction reveals a chance for Giant. Giant kicks Terry with a roundhouse kick. The blow feels like a boulder smashing half of Terry's face. Terry falls sideways.

Maya electrocutes in time to stop lotad's attacks. But that is not enough to knock it unconscious.

"Don't worry Maya! We'll take it from here. Go help Terry," Miguel says.

Buttercup and Maya concentrate on Giant. Buttercup crawls on Giant like what she did to other bandit's pokemon. In a quick moment, Buttercup is caught by the tail by Giant.

"Your Pichu is quick but not fast enough!"

Buttercup glares at Giant with utter dislike and anger. She puts her last energy into electrocuting Giant. Giant jerks from the sudden shocks. Giant is forced to release Buttercup. Buttercup falls and Maya catches her just in time. Buttercup becomes unconscious because of her fatigue.

"You did excellent, Buttercup. Now it's my turn," Maya returns Buttercup to the pokeball.

Terry returns Torch to his pokeball and turns to the bandits. "It's your turn!" Tarzan and Miguel join them after defeating the lotad.

Coyote laughs loudly.

"You think this is FUNNY!!" Terry yells in anger and hurls himself at Coyote.

Terry is hurled backwards as soon as he gets near Coyote.

"You three and your pokemon amuse me," Coyote says. "But the real fun is just getting started."

Zombie and Caveman pins Miguel down on the ground. Miguel is unable to escape. Tarzan tries to free Miguel but is thrown by Zombie. Zombie throws Tarzan at Phantom. Maya helps Tarzan and engages a fight with Phantom. Terry is busy fighting Coyote.

Maya and Tarzan cooperate to do a combo against Phantom. Maya attempts to hit Phantom's pressure points but misses every time. Phantom paralyzes Maya instead of the other way around. Tarzan tries to assist Maya by using a recently learned side kick on Phantom but Phantom swats him away like a huge fly. Tarzan hits a tree and faints.

"Tarzan! Noooo!" Miguel yells.

Terry immediately helps Maya when Tarzan has fallen. However, Coyote gets in his way. Terry attempts to avoid Coyote but fails. Coyote gives Terry a forward kick. Terry falls backwards but recovers. Terry tries again but this time Coyote kicks Terry into the air. Coyote jumps into the air and attacks Terry. Terry guards all his attacks and retaliates.

Meanwhile, Maya unties the pressure point and counters Phantom. Phantom is caught off guard and Maya almost defeats Phantom. However, Phantom has more combat experience than Maya. Phantom counterattacks Maya by punching her face with his rock-like fist. He punches her stomach simultaneously. Phantom grasps Maya's hair tightly to seal Maya's attacks.

Terry is able to counter a couple of Coyote's techniques but Coyote still has the advantage. Terry still receives heavy damage. Coyote's final combo knocks Terry to a tree. Blood trickles down Terry's forehead and corner lip. The corner of Terry's left lip and Terry's right eye are bruised. Terry slumps down to a sitting position.

"Terry! Maya! No! This can't be happening!" Miguel screams.


	7. Chapter 8

Chapter 5: The Encounter

_Chapter 8: The Encounter_

Trees move with the wind ominously. A kid around Terry's age lay unconscious in the center of the path; his face shows bruises and other signs of being beaten. An older girl approaches the unconscious boy. She wears a dark blue bandana, dark green camp clothing and dark blue fingerless gloves. She puts a finger on his wrist to try to detect a pulse but no pulse came. The boy is dead. The older girl stares at the trees straight ahead for a moment and quickly runs to the direction where the dead boy came from, the direction the dead boy's back is facing.

Terry, Maya and Miguel defeats one out of five of them. Terry and his friends are beaten badly. The trio and their pokemon fought their best. These goons aren't chumps. They are elite trainers. Terry is sitting with his back against a tree, full of fatigue and is coughing up blood. He glares at them. Miguel is pinned down by two of the goons. Phantom grasps Maya's hair tightly and lifts Maya off her feet. These men are crazy and he does not want to die this way; Terry believes neither his friends wanted to die this way.

"Damn brat!" Phantom says.

"Let's just get their pokemon and money then go. This is annoying," Coyote says. His fists are bloody after preventing Terry to go help Maya and beating Terry.

"Are you kidding me? They had knocked Giant unconscious and all of our pokemon already. We should kill them. If not this is** really going to be annoying.**"

Coyote sighs. "Whatever. But don't get us caught." Coyote rushes toward Terry, ready to punch him.

_Move! _Terry says to himself in his mind but his body refuses to listen to him. He must have overworked himself during the fight.

Terry knows that his doom is coming. He closes his eyes. Before Coyote reaches Terry, a nidoking body slams him. Phantom releases Maya and rushes to help Coyote, but the nidoking tackles him with his horn. The nidoking whips Coyote with his crushingly powerful tail. Maya stares in awe and fear at the same time. The other goons release Miguel to help Coyote and Phantom. A blastoise, onix, dragonite and a ponyta come out to help. The goons stand with backs facing each other and front facing the new pokemon. An older girl appears next to the nidoking, on her shoulder is a poochyena. She wears a dark blue bandana, dark green camp clothes and fingerless gloves that match her dark bandana.

"You better back off young lady because we will kill you if you get into our business."

"Hmm? Try me."

Phantom launches at the older girl. The older girl kicks him at nidoking's direction.

"Nacho, take on that guy." the older girl says to the nidoking. "Flash, take on the guy with a cap (Coyote)," to the ponyta. "Tank, the guy with the scar (Zombie)," to the blastoise. "Sharkeye, the earring dude (Caveman)," to the dragonite.

The nidoking smiles and lifts Phantom. He throws Phantom at Coyote. Flash back-kicks them both. The older girl appears behind Coyote and Phantom. She handcuffs them both.

"You are-

"You got that right. I am a bounty hunter. Your murdering days are over."

The older girl unleashes all her pokemon out. Nacho carries the handcuffed criminals. The onix, Wreck tackles the remaining goons and wraps them with his snake-like body. The older girl then has a chance to handcuff them. Each of the older girl's pokemon carries two of the unconscious goons. The older girl walks toward Maya and Miguel.

"Are you okay?" The older girl smiles and extends a hand to Maya and another hand to Miguel. Maya and Miguel catch each of her hand and are pulled to their feet.

Maya immediately positions herself next to Terry to see his condition.

Terry has his head down after suffering from the beating. She kneels down on one knee in front of Terry and looks under his dropped head to see his face. She is shocked when she sees his face because Terry resembles her long lost brother. She feels the empty space in her heart being filled up again for one second. She shook her head and thought, "this can be a Team Rocket plot. But we'll play a game."

The older girl picks up Terry's pokeball and returns Charmander to its pokeball. She gives Terry's pokeball to Maya.

"Stay here, I will come back in a few seconds."

The older girl comes back later carrying a dead boy on her shoulder. Maya opens her mouth wide in shock and Miguel immediately turns pale.

"I didn't kill him. The goons that beat you up earlier did."

She walks to Pallet Town. Maya and Miguel carry Terry. They follow the older girl.

An officer sees the older girl and the pokemon holding people. The older girl shows the officer her bounty hunter pass.

"Oh. Headquarters is to the left," the cop says.

"Where's the hospital?"

"Right next to the headquarters."

"Thank you," the older girl runs to the hospital. "Flash, Wreck, Tank, Sharkeye, Nacho stay here. I will come back!" the older girl says to her pokemon.

The poochyena jumps from her shoulder to translate for her. The pokemon nod. The older girl runs to the hospital. She drops the dead boy in the hospital and immediately rushes to her pokemon. Miguel and Maya drop Terry in another room of the hospital.

The older girl and her pokemon drop the criminals at the police headquarter jail. The bandits are wanted and their posters are displayed all over the place.

"Please sign your name here. You will receive the money on your bounty next door. After you get your money, you are all set to go."

The older girl signs the name quickly and runs out of the headquarters with her pokemon before the cop can ask anything. The older girl's pokemon follow her. The older girl returns all of her pokemon to her pokeballs. "Thanks guys," she says to her pokemon. She decides to walk to the pokemon center first before visiting the trio.

Terry is treated immediately once he lands in the hospital. The older girl, Maya and Miguel paces around outside of the room. An hour later, a doctor comes out of the room.

"How is he, doctor?" Maya asks.

"Your friend is okay. There is nothing life threatening. He is healthy so he heals quickly. He can immediately leave when he wakes up."

They are relieved.

"On the other hand, the other boy--" the doctor says.

"I know the boy is dead," the older girl says.

"I have contacted his family and they wish to meet with you."

The older girl looks over Terry through the transparent window, the twins and the doctor before leaving waiting hall.

"He'll be okay," the doctor says.

"Okay."

The doctor escorts the older girl to the dead boy's family members. When the older girl enters the room she sees a woman who seems to have been crying and a man trying to comfort her.

"Are you the parents of this boy?" the older girl asks.

They nod.

"I am sorry. He is already dead when I found him," the older girl says.

"We know, I am glad you have brought him back. We can at least see his face before he is gone," the father says.

"What is your name young lady?" the mother asks.

"My name is Red."

"Thank you. Red," she says and tries to smile.

"You are welcome." Red tries to say that to comfort them and then leaves the hallway where the other people sit to wait for their friend or family member.

Meanwhile, Terry wakes up. He sees Miguel and Maya next to his bedside.

_Where am I?_ _No. I can't be dead._ _I don't want to die! My dreams have not come true yet!_

He quickly lifts his bed covers and gets out of bed.

"Terry! What are you doing?!" Miguel shouts.

He opens the door and sees Red standing in front of him.

"Oh, you're back," Maya says to the older girl.

"Who are you? Am I dead? Am I in heaven?" Terry asks.

"Heaven? No, you silly." She walks aside and gestures her arm toward the working doctors. "What do you think this place is?"

Terry looks around. The place is busy. There are patients and doctors everywhere. "A hospital."

"See. You are not in heaven, you are still alive and conscious. Your friends are here."

"I thought we're all dead," Terry says.

"What?" The twin says together.

"Then... Who are you?"

"I am a bounty hunter and my name is Red. Nice to meet you," Red extends her hand to everyone. Terry, Maya and Miguel each shake it.

"Where's Torch?"

Red looks at Maya. Terry turns his attention to Maya.

"Torch is at the pokemon center with our pokemon. The pokemon center is just across the bridge from here. Want to go?" Maya asks.

"Okay!" Terry wears his flamed but black background jacket, gathers his items, ready to run.

"Hold up!" Red says and Terry stops in his tracks. "We have to sign you out this room first. I am not a patient kidnapper and neither your friends are."

"Oh. Okay."

Red, Maya, Miguel and Terry sign out of the room. They talk as they walk to the pokemon center.

"Who carried me here?" Terry asks.

"We did," Maya and Miguel says.

"Even though we are wounded, we still have the energy to carry you if we work together," Miguel looks at Maya. Maya looks back at his twin brother.

"It is my turn to ask questions. When I arrived I saw that one of the goons is already unconscious. Did you three defeat him?"

The trio tries to look for a representative to speak.

"They are really tough but we and our pokemon managed to defeat one of them and all of the goons' pokemon," Maya says.

"I see. No wonder. In these circumstances, they should have released their pokemon. But you defeated them all..."

"Is this the pokemon center?" Terry asks.

Red looks around her and she nods.

Terry rushes to the desk.

"Do you know where our pokemon are?"

The nurse walks to a pokeball carrier behind her.

"Your charmander, treeco and pichu are well. They also increased four levels."

The trio releases their pokemon from their pokeball. Torch hugs Terry happily. Miguel connects his fist to Tarzan, his treeco's fist. Maya hugs her pichu, Buttercup. Red walks to the counter.

"Miss, can I have my pokemon back?" Red asks.

"Yes miss. They are all well," the nurse puts a tray with Red's pokeballs on the desk. One by one, Red pushes the size button on each pokeball. Each pokeball shrinks as she pushes the size button. She then puts each of them in her pocket.

"Let's get something to eat. It's lunch time already," Red says.

"Alright! I'm starving!" Miguel says.

She then takes out a pokeball and presses the size button. Red throws it in midair. A poochyena comes out.

"My poochyena's name is Rocky. Rocky, meet Torch, Tarzan and Buttercup."

Torch, Buttercup, Tarzan and Rocky play with each other. They follow when their trainers walk to a restaurant. In the restaurant the trio and their pokemon eat hungrily.

"Damn. Slow down or you'll choke," Red says and her words triggers a memory.

_Damn. Slow down or you'll choke. Red says to her little brother. Her brother is gulping down food happily. He smiles at her._

Red shakes her head to clear her mind again.

Terry and Maya stops to look at her. Miguel stops eating to see what is going on.

"Are you alright?" Terry asks.

Red pauses for a moment and says "yeah."

Red pays all the bills. Once Red steps out of the door she says, "We have lunch but now I have to get back to my business and you have to get back to yours."

Red walks away. The trio huddles, discuss a few second and breaks from their huddle.

"What business do you have?" Miguel asks.

"While journeying to the Johto League, I am doing my bounty hunter work at the same time."

"Hey. We are going to the Johto League too!"

_"Aw man. I want to be ambushed to find more criminals," _Red says in her mind. "Listen. Hey. I wanted to be ambushed to find more criminals to fill in my volunteer work."

"That is no problem. I am the number one troublemaker in school," Terry says.

"A troublemaker is even worse."

Maya rushes in front of Red. The trio surrounds her.

"We challenge you to a battle!" Maya says.

Red looks at Terry and his friends curiously.

"Let's settle this with a martial arts battle an hour later. Since you can defeat four of the goons that take forever for us to defeat. How about us three against you?" Terry says.

Red smiles confidently. "Okay. Let's take this outside. I hardly believe that three beginners can knock out even one out of five B-rank criminals and all of their pokemon," Red says.

An hour later, Terry, Maya, Miguel and Red meets outside of the town in the Bug Forest. Red marks a circle around her.

"If your combined strengths can make me move outside of the circle you can come along."

Red stands inside of the circle.

Terry, Maya and Miguel strikes one by one but Red either dodges the strikes or deflects it while inside of the circle. Sometimes Red pushes them out of the circle. The trio continues to strike Red and for an hour. Terry then backs up and takes in breath quickly. Maya hops backwards. Miguel ends up sitting and gazing hard at Red to find a weakness.

"Giving up yet?" Red asks.

"No," the trio says together. Terry examines Red's stance. He thinks, "_she seems to have an absolute defense. Nothing gets to her._"

The trio huddles again for a minute.

Terry then remembers what Mr. Marvel says.

_"Hard battles are going to be long. You have to have a lot of endurance and patience to win. If you find an extremely tough opponent, relax and take a deep breath. Attack again and examine the opponent's way of fighting. Then try to break through."_

Terry tells his friends the exact words Mr. Marvel tell him. They soon disperse.

Terry, Miguel and Maya lunges at Red but Red hits Terry with her elbow. She hits Maya with her knee. Terry falls on the ground in front of Red. Maya moves backward. Miguel trips Red with a leg sweep but Red jumps to avoid it. Terry looks up and discovers what he thinks as a weakness. Terry lunges himself on Red and strikes with a head butt. Red strikes with her palm. Her palm hit Terry's head and Terry bounces backwards.

Terry recovers from the being bounced backwards by doing a back flip and landing nicely. Maya and Miguel take over while Terry recovers himself. Terry touches his aching head for a moment. He rushes to Red again to unleash another set of punches and kicks. He continues to monitor Red's moves and his own moves while dodging. Red kicks him, forcing him to bounce backwards. Red blocks and then deflects his and his friend's moves often. Terry finally finds a way to win Red.

Terry kicks Red but Red spins his leg, causing Terry to spin vertically and fall. Terry's friends move out of the way. Terry lands but regains his composure with his hands. He trips Red with two legs to recover but Red dodges them. Terry sits up and hits Red with two hands. Red deflects them but Terry continues to hit Red's deflecting stance with punches. Red deflects with both of her arms and legs this time. Terry hits them with surprising moves continuously. Terry's friend begins to know what Terry is up to and helps Terry by tripping Red. Red reads their moves. Terry does a back kick to attempt to kick Red out of the circle but fails. Red's punch neutralizes Terry's kick. Terry falls and touches his heel to ease the ache.

"You three are a good team. You figured out the weakness of this type of fighting style but don't get your hopes up yet. There are numerous techniques in a fighting style. You have only seen 10 of it. Okay. I'll guide you three. In the meantime, make yourselves useful and you must follow **my rules**. I can ditch all of you any time," Red says.

"You definitely will not regret being with us," Maya says.

"You will definitely find us useful," Terry says.

"No prob," Miguel says.

"Before we go to another city, I have to save my newly earned money from my bounty in the bank first," Red says. In the same time Red thought, "they can actually make good comrades."


	8. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9: Samurai_

A pair of glowing eyes stares out of a bush as it detects human presence. Terry, Maya, Red and Miguel rest after training to prepare for their upcoming journey. Their pokemon remain in their pokeballs. Terry has a feeling that he is targeted so he looks around often.

"Why are you so tense all of a sudden? Red's here and I am sure her skills will guarantee our safety," Miguel says.

"It's nothing Miguel. Just go to sleep. I'll be okay."

Red glances at Terry and pretends to sleep. The twin siblings are so tired that they fell asleep immediately. Terry decides to follow everyone and sleeps. A few hours later, Terry is awaken by a ruffling noise. He looks around him and discovers that his rucksack disappeared. A shadow passes by a tree; Terry runs to pursue it. The shadow leads Terry to vast grassland.

"If you want your items back, you will have to duel me," a voice says.

"Show yourself!" Terry says.

"I don't need to."

The shadow attacks Terry from behind but Terry dodges it. Terry turns around and attacks the mystery figure with a back kick. The figure deflects the kick and is forced backwards. When he regains his balance, he sees a scyther. The scyther does not stop and continues his offense. The scyther's attacks are so sharp that the trees slip along their stumps and fall. Terry is in a bad situation. The scyther's speed and attack surpasses him. He can only dodge but that does not last long. Terry is getting more tired for each time dodges. Terry hides himself behind a huge rock but the scyther can cut rocks! He cuts half of the huge rock. However, the cuts are not as successful as the stumps the scyther created. Terry catches the other half and smashes at the scyther when it catches him behind the rock. The scyther defends itself. Terry quickly moves to another rock. The scyther cuts the rock in half, thinking that it got Terry. However, Terry is not behind the rock anymore. Terry sneaks behind the scyther and unleashes continuous combos on the scyther. Terry sends the scyther flying and beats it as it falls to the ground. When the scyther lands, Terry smashes the scyther with two of his fists at the same as a finishing move. The scyther is finally defeated.

"I have been looking for a trainer like you," the scyther says as he lies on the grass. "You have earned my respect and your capture. Go on. Your items are behind the second tree I have cut."

Terry quickly runs to the place the scyther has indicated. His items are there like the scyther said. Terry carries his rucksack and walks next to the scyther.

"I would like to know your name," Terry says.

"Samurai," the scyther says.

Terry throws an empty pokeball at Samurai. The pokeball struggles a little but the capture is successful. Terry exhausts himself during the duel. He immediately falls asleep at the place he is standing with Samurai's container with one hand.

Morning has arrived as the sun shows up. Red and the twin siblings gets up to do their morning routine.

"Where's Terry?" Maya asks.

"Let's pack up our stuff and then find him," Miguel says.

Red quietly follows them. Pichu is released to locate Terry. Pichu's sense leads the three teenagers to a vast grassland and eventually Terry.

"Ai, Yai yai," Red says.

They find Terry sleeping peacefully on the grass with a pokeball on his hand.

"What are we going to do with him?" Miguel asks.

Red slaps Terry awake.

"OW!"


	9. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Pokemon Hunt, The Saanna, The Seen &lack Spiders

_Disclaimer's note: _I use the system &ut I am not a pokemon fan. I will only mention the pokemon I know. This is only fanfic, I do for fun. _Some of the parts I made up will &e in my future anime, &y then I will hae my own system. No one can sue me for haing those similar parts in this fanfic &ecause those similar parts are MY ideas. _The others are just in this fanfic. The map is &ased on scientific research showing Earth in 1.5 million years.

"Stop right there!" Red shouts.

"What!?" Terry asks irritatingly. Maya and Miguel turn around.

"Before heading into a gym we need to have six pokemon in each of our pockets. If not, you will not be allowed to enter any gym."

"How do you know?"

"I am also a pokemon trainer too. Such rhetorical question…"

"Hey!"

"I'm telling the truth. I have more experience than any of you because I have been a pokemon trainer for four years. You can learn a lot in four years."

"So what should we do?" Miguel asks.

"We can enter a city, town or village to restock but we cannot enter a gym. So, we will travel to different environments: deserts, mountains, tundra, taiga, woods, rain forest or sea."

"Wow, there are **that** many places we have not gone yet? I want to go!" Terry cheers.

"I also want to see different types of pokemon," Maya says.

"Then this is your chance. Let's go," Red takes the map out. "The map shows three different continents, Eurasia, America and Australia. "We are now in &oston. We hae already &een to the woods. "Most of the area around &oston are woods so we need to trael to all sorts of places &y air. It will &e conenient &ecause the trainer license will pay for our traeling fees. I am sure the examiners from the trainer exam already mentioned this &ut to refresh your memory I will say it again. Each trainer license carries money for a life time, one &illion dollars. Use it wisely &ecause it will disappear in a flash if you splurge it often, like my friend did."

"What did your friend do?" Maya asks.

"Uh…"

Red tells the trio her flash&ack.

_"OH YES! MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!" a girl with &runette hair screams happily. The coins &egin to pour out of the machine as she scores a triple. "I am going to &uy tons of pokemon food and a acation house! Let's see if I can dou≤ my license amount.!"_

_"Yoshiko. Your luck is going to run out soon if you keep on gam&ling. Let's go, we already hae tons of money," Red says._

_Yoshiko ignores Red. Red sighs. _

_"I am going to go train with my pokemon. See you later."_

_Two hours later, Red sees Yoshiko's tears &ursting like crazy on her left and right from the corner of her eyes. They are flowing like a rier. Red wonders if she will flood the casino and force eeryone out._

_"What is it?" Red says lazily._

_"I…I..I lost all of my money from gam&ling…All the one hundred fifty &illion dollars are….are…gone. WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Yoshiko takes out a napkin and &lows her nose with it. After she &lows her nose, the tears flows like a rier again. Red jumps &ackwards._

_"That seres you right. You idiot. Well, I guess we hae to start all oer again."_

_"Can you lend me money?"_

_"NO!"(end of flash&ack)_

"I see. Where is she now?" Maya asks.

"Who knows? She may &e gam&ling again."

"Aren't you worried?"

"It's her path. She's the one who chooses her own destiny. No one can change others except themseles."

"We get the point now. We should go," Miguel says.

Terry sits down in &oredom.

The group rides the plane to Zim&a&we, Eurasia.

"Why did we choose a saanna?" Terry pants.

"&e quiet for a minute," Red says.

Terry suddenly notices something in his fatigue state. Miguel and Maya notice it too.

"Team Rocket!" Maya said.

Team Rocket surrounds them.

"Who are you? State your &usiness!"

"We're just pokemon hunting."

"You must pay a fee first."

"Not if I can't help it!" &efore Maya can strike them another group of people comes. The people's clothes hae patches all oer them. They seem to &e incredi&ly poor &ut skillful pokemon trainers.

"The &lack Spiders!"

The group of people all had a spider sym&ol on them. "Time to kick Team Rocket. Are you alright?"

"We're a&out to kick their asses and you came," Maya said.

"Then let's kick them away from our homeland."

The trio is a&out to take their poke&alls &ut Red stops them.

"What are you doing?"

"This is not our &usiness. This is apparently a war &etween a resistance group and it's goernment. We do not want to get inoled politically. We're only here to catch pokemon."

The trio did not listen and helped the &lack Spiders.

"Figures. They are only middle school kids," Red grits her teeth. She decides to watch them. Surprisingly, they fought well.

"Withdraw!" Team Rocket said.

"Thank you. You hae my regards. May I know your names?"

"Terry."

"Maya."

"Miguel."

"And you?"

"Red."

"We are honored to meet you. I see that you are skillful pokemon trainers. I am sorry &ut I hae a request."

"What is the request?" Miguel asks.

"Can you work with us to free our land from Team Rocket? We need skillful trainers like you."

"Definitely," Miguel says.

"Oh. We are deeply thankful."

"&ut first we need to hunt pokemon. That is what we came here for," Terry says.

"You are welcome to. There is a city on the other side of that mountain," the &lack Spider points. "It is called Okwonkwo. You can meet us there."

"Okay."

"We will wait for you."

The &lack Spiders leae.

I know I saw a Natu somewhere," Terry says. "Let's hunt!"

Terry, Maya and Miguel each run separate ways. Meanwhile, Red summons her Dragonite.

"Sharkeye! Let's go to the other side of the mountain in stealth mode," Red says. Sharkeye nods.

"Alright! A slowking!" Miguel said as he just caught a slowking.

Maya catches a Natu. Terry walks lazily in the saanna. "Tch. Een though I slept on the trip I still feel sleepy." His stomach growls. "And hungry." He saw an egg with patterns out of nowhere. "Wait a minute. I am not **that** hungry am I?" He walks toward the egg. It seems that he is not haing illusions. Terry takes his pokedex out of his pocket.

_A togepi egg, togetics are extremely protectie oer it. Togetics are psychic pokemon that lies in the saanna. They are also food to ekans, ar&oks and noctowels._

"If it is extremely protectie why did they leae it here in the middle of nowhere?"

Terry examines the egg; he puts his ear against. "It's alie too." The egg cracks. Terry jumps &ackward in surprise. Sweat drips down from his forehead. The egg hatches and a cute pokemon with a horny head comes out. The new&orn pokemon's feet kicks out of its shell. "Oh. No." Terry says. The togepi walks towards him and sticks to him like a glue. "I guess it's not that &ad. It is going to &e tough &ut this little dude will &ecome a great pokemon."

Red arries at the spot the trio separated. The three of them comes ten minutes later.

"You caught your pokemon? What did you catch?"

"A Natu."

"A Slowking."

"Good choice. &oth pokemon are sages."

Terry comes lastly; his mood finally cheers up and his fatigue ends.

"Hmm? What dries you in a good mood?"

"I caught a togepi!"

"Togepis and togetics are powerful and known to &ring good luck to their trainers. They are extremely rare. Congrats. You hae a lot of work to do though."

The togepi urinated on Terry while Terry is carrying it. "Ahhhhhh!"

"Get changed, put your dirty clothes in a &ag and digitize it. You can wash it when we get to the city," Red says.

Terry does what Red says and they all enter the city on the other side of the mountain, Okwonkwo.

The &lack Spiders welcome them. They inited Terry and his friends to a feast.

"I am surprised that in a neigh&orhood like this we can hae a feast," Red says.

"Not just feast &ut feasts. It's all &ecause of Ikemefuna, our leader. We used to &e poor. There are not much educators. That is one of the reasons why Okwonkwo, the city &ecomes a target for Team Rocket. We are constantly &eaten &y Team Rocket mem&ers. This is also known as the land of fallen hope until Ikemefuna stood up to Team Rocket," the man next to Red says.

"Oi, he's a young, &rae, kind and persistant lad. All the adults around him, including me hae gien up hope when our leader Okwonkwo died. Okwonkwo was a &rae man. He saed the illage once from a sandstorm. Team Rocket slain him in front of eeryone. We all lost courage to fight. &ack then, Ikemefuna is only ten. He must hae suffered more than any of us, watching his father die like that. He left town. We thought Ikemefuna wanted to run away from all this &ut he returned holding a trainer license. He went to the white house and told the president all a&out Team Rocket. He showed eidence of Team Rocket &reaking the constitution. The president immediately stripped Team Rocket of power. Team Rocket is now an underground organization. They thrie &y smuggling drugs and pokemon. When he returned he een coninced us to &e trainers. We can earn enough money to hire educators or start an economy that will eentually produce people who will use their skills to help the city,' he said. He started to donate money to the city. Others followed him and together we prosper." Another man says.

"Why are you still in conflicts with Team Rocket?" Maya asks.

"Team Rocket wanted forcefully to take oer the town so the mayor is always in danger. The &lack spiders contain seen of us with Ikemefuna as the leader. Two of the &lack spiders now guard the mayor. Team Rocket tried many attempts &ut failed."

"Well. That means it is my jo&," Red stands up.

"Didn't you say, it is not our &usiness at first?" Terry smirks.

"I thought mayor of this place is taken oer &y Team Rocket. It seems that you hae eerything under control. Now it's my turn. Ikemefuna, on the Team Rocket's next attempt, I will arrest them," Red fixes her &andana.

"Arrest them?"

Red shows eeryone her &adge. "The three kids here are my disciples--

"Wait a minute," one of the seen spiders interrupts. "Dark &lue &andana and fingerless gloes. Are you the _greyhound_?"

Red is shocked for a moment. Sweat trickles down her face.

"No," Red says nerously.

"Oh."

Red's three disciples look at Red curiously.

The feast is distur&ed &y an outside noises. People are screaming outside.

When the group set a foot out of the door, they see all the houses on fire.

Groups of men with &lack hats and a red R on their jumpsuit starts to scare the townspeople.

"Eeryone, rescue our people first!"

"Ikemefuna, let's join forces. You and I will pursue the leader. Maya, Miguel, Terry, defeat Team Rocket while the spiders rescue the townspeople!"

"Sir, what a&out Obiora and Jordan?"

"Don't worry a&out them! You know their strength! The mayor pro&a&ly escaped right now! Now go!"

Screams and yells are heard all oer the town. Sounds of flesh &eing torn can &e heard. The fires spread incredi&ly fast like a raid of soldiers. The Team Rocket mem&ers laugh hysterically.

"Capture some of the children! They will &e trained as mercenaries to help Gioanni!"

This statement angered the spiders and Red's disciples.

"Damn! I don't hae water pokemon on me!" Terry grits his teeth.

The seen spiders releases their water pokemon.

"Go! Tank! Eliminate all the fires!" Red yells.

Tank does a hydro pump attack &y spinning himself in the air like a &oomerang splashing water.

The seen spiders and Red's disciples seizes a chance to stop Team Rocket. Eery pokemon trainer releases all their poke&alls to fend off Team Rocket. Togepi does not know how to fight yet. The little pokemon frowns as it sees all of his friends fight.

A girl is trapped in the middle of the conflict. A net almost falls upon her &ut Togepi gies a girl a good push with it's head&utt attack. Togepi is captured instead. Team Rocket picks up the net from their helicopter.

"A rare and powerful pokemon. I don't need the girl."

"Samurai!" Terry commands.

Samurai gies his arm a good swing and cuts the net.

Togepi falls and Terry catches it. Terry immediately returns it to his poke&all. "I am sorry. Rest for now. I will teach you how to fight later. Nice head&utt attack. From now on, your name will &e Ricochet!"

Maya hops from house to house after the helicopter. &uttercup is on her shoulder.

"Sis! What are you doing?!"

Maya ignores Miguel and jumps at the direction of the helicopter. Her left hand is on the helicopter's leg. The helicopter goes higher to throw Maya off. Maya throws &uttercup into the helicopter. &uttercup releases electricity on the drier. The drier's hand is on the controls so &uttercup accidentally &lows up the controls. The helicopter comes crashing down onto the town.

"This is &ad," Terry says in his mind.

"Maya! Get your pichu and let go of the helicopter!" one of the seen spiders shouts.

Maya sees a noctowl and looks at Terry. Terry nods with assurance. &uttercup jumps on Maya's shoulder. Maya holds &uttercup at her chest. Maya lets go of the helicopter leg and falls, holding &uttercup in two arms. Terry catches Maya in time.

The Noctowel &lows the helicopter off to the mountains with its powerful wings. When the helicopter reaches the mountains, the helicopter explodes.

Ikemefuna and Red com&ine forces to defeat the Team Rocket high rank officer. Ikemefuna kicks him in Red's direction. Red immediately restrains him from motion and stamps him. The Team Rocket high rank officer immediately teleported.

"Where did he go?"

"To &ounty hunter headquarters. There is a &ounty for all Team Rocket mem&ers."

All Team Rocket mem&ers around the area are caught. Red stamps them one &y one and returns them to the &ounty headquarters.

Eeryone is tired of all this drama. The people of Okwonkwo welcome Red and her disciples. Red and her disciples rest for a night. They said farewell and continued their journey for the next day. They receied food as gifts to support their ongoing journey.


	10. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Two Sides Of A Coin Taiga

Chapter 11: Team Rocket's Pawns; Taiga

In the cell, the echoes of whips scattered the walls. The man continues to scream in pain.

"Who are the four travelers you saw in Okwonkwo Town?"

The man's purses his lips and smiles.

"Bulbasaur."

The bulbasaur continues to unleash vine whip on the man. The man shouts in pain.

Two other Team Rocket members come with three other prisoners. The prisoners are two girls and a woman.

"Dad!"

"Bulbasaur stun them with your stun spore and venom."

"NO!"

The two girls and woman aches in pain after bulbasaur poisons them.

"If you continue to keep your mouth shut. I will feed your family to the hungry pokemon," the man wore his twisted smile.

"Ok! I'll tell you!" the man cries.

"Dad! No! They are heroes!"

"Do they know what pain we are in??" the man shouts angrily. "I am not sure but the townsmen think the girl with the dark blue bandana is _greyhound_."

"Describe her."

"Her name is Red. She wears dark green, a dark blue bandana and dark fingerless gloves. She is a pretty gal. At first she opposes helping out the town because she thought the town is already taken over by them. But since she knows the real situation she combine forces with Ikemefuna.

"Be specific!"

Bulbasaur whips the man.

"She does not want publicity."

"Hmmm. Greyhound eh? That must be her. It's been a long time. Giovanni will be happy. Who are the other three?"

"The other three are her disciples. I have never seen Red fight but the other three are powerful. Their pokemon includes a charmeleon, togepi, treeko, scyther, pichu, natu and slowking."

"Describe her disciples. I need every detail as clear as possible."

One of the captured girls cries. The woman tries to calm her.

"There's a blonde hair kid. He wears a black jacket that have flames on it and black jeans. His name is Terry. The other two are twins, Maya and Miguel. The twins are brunettes. The boy has a red unique vest. It has a huge black zipper. He wears caprice. The girl also wears caprice. She has a navy blue jacket.

"Hm. Thank you," the interrogator says. "Unfortunately, you cannot lie. &urn them later," the interrogator says to his fellow Team Rocket mem&ers.

Red returns to the &ounty hunter headquarters. "Here is your new list of criminals," the man gies her a thick ta&let.

"Thank you."

Red turns away to from the man to exit the &uilding. As she walks towards the door she iews her ta&let.

_Dan Louie, 16, Mass Murderer, whoeer catches him will &e awarded 30,000._

"Dan…." Red frowned at the bounty.

The trio waited outside the &uilding.

"Who is the new &ounty?" Terry asks.

"Secret," Red grins.

"Tch, Fine."

"&ounty hunters are suppose to keep their missions secret," Miguel says.

"Oh."

"Our next destination is a taiga, an arctic atmosphere with pine trees. The Himalayas, between India and China is a taiga."

"Oooh, Oooh, Oooh. Are we going to the peak?" Terry flaps his arms in eagerness.

"Yes we are."

"Yeah!"

"First of all, do all of you hae winter clothes?"

Reds three disciples nod.

"Okay, on the way to the Himalayas, I suggest all of us to change into winter clothes in the &athroom of the airport. That way I don't hae to hear any of you whine on the way."

_&eep. We will &e departing soon. This is a free drink to keep all our passengers warm from the aggressiely cold climate. _The microphone sounds on &oard of the airplane.

"What's this?" Terry asks.

"This is the first time I hae eer seen this. I must try this!" Miguel eagerly drinks the tea.

"This is nook grass tea. It is a special her& that can keep a person or pokemon warm in a cold climate. This special her& mixes with water &ecomes nook grass tea."

"Nice!" Terry quickly drinks it.

"Now we will clim& the Himalayas!" Terry spreads his arms and runs with joy.

Red laughs. A memory starts to oercome her mind.

_Sis! We made it! Yay! Red's &rother spreads his arms, and runs toward like a &ird running &efore flying._

Red quickly reassem&les her mind to the present.

Maya looks at Red curiously. What is she laughing a&out?

Ten minutes later, Red stops in her tracks. "Let's set up camp here."

"Why?" Miguel asks.

"There is a &lizzard coming. If we don't set camp now, the &lizzard will scatter us and throw us off course."

Red and her disciples set up the camp. As Red has said, the &lizzard arries.

"Red, how can you tell the weather &eforehand?"

"As you trael more, you learn to listen to the Earth. The Earth consists of the sky and the ground. The Earth has different moods: Storms, sunny, cloudy, tsunamis, earthquakes, olcanic eruptions and etc."

Miguel nods in admiration.

Maya ignores the conersation and falls asleep.

The next morning, Maya is the first one to wake up. The &lizzard has stopped and she walks out of the tent. She discovers a cave. The cave is much warmer than the environment outside. She walks inside and discovers a huge lake below the ledge. Maya clim&s &elow the ledge. Maya digitizes a fishing rod from her storage &in. She casts the fishing rod and sits patiently near the lake.

Maya catches a &ait not long from when she sits on the lake. Maya uses all her might of her fishing skills and catches a magikarp.

"I thought it is some strong aquatic pokemon. Guess not."

Maya looks at the shaky magikarp attentiely. The magikarp's strength is not &ad. It took some stamina out of her when she catches it.

Maya summons &uttercup. &uttercup electrocutes the magikarp and Maya unleashes her poke&all. The poke&all shakes as usual &ut the magikarp gets free. The poke&all &ounces &ack to Maya's hand. &uttercup electrocutes the magikarp again. Maya attempts to catch it again and succeeds.

Maya digitizes the fishing rod &ack into the SB. She decides to stay within the cae to train for awhile so she sends &uttercup to tell her friends.

Maya releases her new pokemon from her pokeball. The pokemon returns to the lake in a flash. The magikarp possesses so much strength that the water splashes all oer the place. Maya has to &ounce &ack to aoid it. The magikarp swims around the lake as fast as a shark. It is trying to runaway &ut it seems like it is running in circles. Maya puts her hands on her waist in frustration.

"It would &e ridiculous to name you, Speedy. &ut more ridiculous to name you, Stupid. &ut I'll show them that I can train you into a Gyrados! Especially that, Red."

Maya crosses her arms.

A mysterious boy who is the same age as Red looks from above.

"Red. I wonder if it is the same Red," the boy whispers to himself.

"We're going to make a great team!"

The magikarp continues to run in circles.

"This is hard. That's it!" Maya shouts in frustration.

Maya kicks the magikarp but makgikarp dodges it. She continues to assault it but it avoided all of her attacks.

"You're a strange one aren't you?"

A scyther sneaks up on Maya. The scyther has its blades near to her neck. The man is an elite, if he is not Maya will have detected him easily.

"Give me all your money if you value your life."

The venomoth and haunter next to the young boy starts to act but their trainer halts them.

"You have encountered the wrong individual," Maya smiles.

Maya quickly removes herself from the scyther's grasp. Buttercup electrocuted both of them with no mercy. The robber and his pokemon are paralyzed. Maya's magikarp jumps out of the water and tackles them continuously despite them immobile.

"He sure likes to tackle. He really reminds me of that wrestler, E. Honda. Ah! There's your name! Honda!" Maya looks at her magikarp happily and returns it to her pokeball.

"I've made a dumb decision. Let's go back!" She says to her pokemon.

"What a cute little girl. Too bad everything has to end," the mystery teenage boy says.


	11. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Where's Maya?" Terry sits in the tent; Miguel is next to him.

"I dunno, but she will come back. She is annoying and immature sometimes. Red went to get food."

Maya continues to train her magikarp after she throws the robber and his pokemon out of the cave. She trains her magikarp for awhile and forgets her troubles.

Red returns to the tent, "The snow storm stopped but the food will be cold as soon as I brought it back. We need to move to a cave so we can easily set up campfire." Red looked around, "Where's Maya?"

"I don't know. Got lost probably, I'll go find her. Stay here for now in case if she comes back," Miguel says.

"Good plan," Red says.

"Be careful," Terry says.

Miguel finds a cave after turning a corner. He sees a paralyzed man and a scyther. He didn't bother to help them, finding his sister is his priority. The mysterious teenage boy disposes the man and scyther secretly.

"Maya! Are you here—

Miguel is interrupted by Maya's scream.

"MAYA!" Miguel runs. "I'm coming!"

Miguel arrives at the scene and sees a gyrados on a huge pond. He immediately releases all of his pokemon and jumpkicks the gyrados to save his sister.

"What are you doing?" Maya asks.

Before Miguel reaches the gyrados he falls in the pond because he stops his jumpkick in midair.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING? TRYING TO RESCUE YOU!" Miguel stands up in the pond. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE IN TROUBLE!"

"Oh, sweet brother. I'm sorry. I am just so happy that my magikarp evolved into a gyardos that I have to scream in joy."

Miguel gapes at Maya.

"Wipe that look off your face! This is my new pokemon. I don't know if I am lucky or not but it seems like when I first caught it; it was a level away from evolving. I trained while in the cave so that gave him experience points."

Miguel looks at the gyrados in awe and a little envy. The gyrados is proud of his trainer so he gives Miguel a cheesy smile. Miguel excretes a huge drop of sweat in his uncomfortable state but Miguel takes a deep breath. He regains his composure.

"What did you name him?" Miguel asks calmly.

"Let's see, he is different compared to other gyrados. He is sweet and can be horrifying if he needed to be. He is huge. I'll just call him Gigantos! Honda doesn't sound right anyway."

"Okay, I'll tell the others you are fine. Stay here. Red, Miguel and I are going to move our tent inside the cave."

The Gigantos gives Miguel a cheesy smile again.

"Do you mind keeping him inside the pokeball. I can't stand his cheesy smile."

"Aww. You don't think that's sweet? Sorry brother, I want to show everyone that I can train a magikarp into a gyrados!"

Miguel takes a deep breath, "alright, whatever. Stay put okay?"

Miguel exits the cave.

"So it's them. The three disciples and my beloved, Red_," _the mysterious teenager thought.

Miguel, Terry and Red move the camp equipment inside the cave. Red and the mysterious teenager's eyes met. Miguel and Terry notice the stranger. Terry then turned to Maya's Gyrados.

"Hey, Red! Look! See I'll surpass you in no time!" Maya said.

"Good job. However, you went overboard in your thinking. You still have a long way to go," Red says coolly.

"Cool as usual. Nothing gets to her,"Maya thought.

"Wow, Maya. You're the first of the three of us to catch a water pokemon!"

Maya begins to blush, "What do you think, Terry? I called him Gigantos."

"That sounds nice," Terry smiles.

"Maya, who is he?" Miguel asks.

"Oh!" Maya laughs. "I got too excited I forgot to introduce Dan Louie! This is Dan Louie. Dan, this is my brother, Miguel, my boyfriend Terry and Red my teacher. You took a long time so I continued to train with Gigantos. He approached me. I was cautious but he is okay. He also tutored me in training!"

Dan smiles brightly at Red. Red's expression continue to show indifference. Miguel looks curiously at Red and Dan.

"Hi, I am Terry! Can you tutor me in ways of pokemon training too?"

"Sure. Release all of your pokemon. We are going to learn about adaptation!"

"Hey, Miguel. Why not join us?" Terry says.

Miguel is cautious; he still does not trust Dan. But since he is showing no harm and he is fond of Red, it will be good for him to play along.

"I'm coming!" Miguel joins them.

All the pokemon are released.

"Now let the pokemon play in the water. Hydrophobic pokemon will follow my instructions in how to merge in water."

All the pokemon plays in the water except Torch, the charmander. Torch hides behind Terry in fear.

"A Charmander is a special case. Your charmander must learn to keep the flame inside it's body to keep warm in water. Another words, your charmander must suck in it's flame in underwater and release its flame when it dwells on land. Am I right, Red?"

"Yes, that's right," Red answered.

The words gain Terry's trust.

"But first there are three stages. You must have patience. I'm not telling you to immediately put your charmander under water. For now just perform stage one. Leave the tail and head above the water but submerge the rest of the body in water."

"Come on, Torch."

Torch shivers uncontrollably.

"I think it would be best for you to join him."

Terry did not think. He takes out his swimming trunks, went into hiding to change and jumps into the water.

"Are you crazy?! The water will be freezing in this type of weather!"

Huge effort is taken to get Torch to merge in water but Terry succeeded.

"He's trainer material," Dan says. "Don't worry Terry, drink nook grass daily and you will be fine!"

"Dan, I must talk to you," Red says.

"I need to have a talk with Red. Take care of yourselves okay?" Dan says to Red's disciples.

"Okay," Terry, Maya and Miguel say together.

"Dan, what are you up to?" Red says when they reach the cave entrance.

Dan forces a kiss upon Red's lips but Red moves aside. Dan kissed the wall instead.

"Dan, that's the past. We chose different paths."

"I figured. But I must warn you, your disciples will die if you refuse to return to team rocket."

"Dan, don't underestimate them. You're in for a surprise. The reason you remained in Team Rocket is because you want to continue with your vigilante charade. You kill criminals but you turned into a criminal yourself. Sorry Dan, your time has come," Red handcuffs Dan but Dan turns her handcuffs against her. Now Dan handcuffs Red's arms behind Red. Red struggles to free herself.

"You won't accept me will you?" Dan frowns.

"I can't when you become a criminal yourself," Red stares powerfully at Dan.

"I know this will happen…" Dan looks away. "NET!" Dan yells.

The cave rumbles. The trio feels a tremble under them. The rocks move and release a group of sharpedoes. Miguel, Maya and Terry quickly jump out of the water.

"Heh, Red. I'm surprised you didn't even know what this place is."

"Oh, I know exactly what this place is and that's the reason I took my apprentices here."

Red body slams herself and Dan out of the cave.

_Meanwhile…_

"What's with this number of sharpedoes?" Terry quickly takes Torch out of the ice water.

Miguel shouts over the rumbling and collapsing cave, "That Dan! I know there is something about him. He yells, 'NET!' and this happened. This is a trap!"

The rocks and stalactites fall in the water. The only light source from above is covered; the cave darkens. The cave's tunnels began to change again. Everything alters.

Terry, Miguel and Maya lost sight of each other.


	12. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Ghost Ship

Chapter 13: Ghost Ship

Terry and Torch falls into the cold lake. The surface is buried with rocks. There is only a tiny gap for air. The sharpedoes surround them. Under huge stress, Torch learns to keep his tail flame inside his body to keep warm. The sharpedoes surround Terry and Torch. Terry and Torch keep their eyes open underwater. Terry maneuvers swiftly underwater despite the coldness. He has this training before under the supervision of Mr. Marvel.

Terry can only hold his breath for ten minutes. "I have got to get out of this, fast." Terry says in his mind. Terry plans to reach his pocket but stops midway. Terry wants to return Torch back to his pokeball but he does not have time.

There are exactly ten sharpedoes. All the sharpedoes eye him. The one in the center, the leader launches a water torpedo at Terry. Terry dodges it. The others see the leader's fail attempt so they attack together. Terry swims behind one of the sharpedoes to use him for a shield. Terry makes it so the torpedo strikes attack their kind. Torch follows Terry by using the same strategy. Torch swims like an otter. Occasionally he will slash a sharpedo. Torch learned fury swipe.

The water torpedoes fail so the sharpedoes use tackle. Terry easily dodges their tackling techniques compared to the water torpedoes. He pulls one sharpedo by the tail and uses him as a shield. The leader launches a huge water torpedo. The other sharpedos bites him to hold him still despite sacrificing themselves. Terry yells in pain and accidentally swallows some of the water. However, Terry manages to free himself. He uses a sharpedo to replace himself and grabs Torch to escape. Now the nine sharpedoes got themselves in the midst of confusion. Terry throws Torch at the leader. Torch bites the leader and unleashes fury swipes. The leader bites Torch but Terry returns Torch in his pokeball in time before the sharpedoes fangs reach him. Using Torch as a distraction, he throws a pokeball. The pokeball contains the sharpedo and succeeds in capture. The sharpedo followers scatter after the leader is defeated.

Terry quickly rises to the tiny gap for air. After a few seconds of heavy breathing, he descends again. This time he is heading to the bottom of the lake.

"This lake is huge. Thanks to Dan's trap, I can't see a damn thing," Terry says in his mind.

He touches the sediment beside him to find a path. On the left he sees a dark hole. A human skull falls out of it. The human skull convinces Terry that left is not an option. Terry turns right. He sees a light source illuminating from the right, at least it is still a light source.

Terry's mood lightens up and quickly swims to the surface. He rises to the surface and breathes. In Terry's surprise, he finds himself in another part of the cave and an abandoned ship. The exit for the ship is blocked by huge ice.

"I thought this is a harsh, steep, mountainous taiga. Why is there a ship here? Miguel! Maya! Are you here?"

Terry waits but there is no answer.

"Well. Since I'm lost, I'll just explore the ship."

The ship is half submerged into the cave. Only the cockpit and sightseeing deck is visible. Terry climbs onto the ship.

A quick shadow passes by him. Terry jerked his head to see who is it but sees nothing. Terry slowly turns three-sixty degrees to observe his surroundings and swallows.

Terry descends the stairs to the inside of the ship. Terry releases all of his pokeballs. Torch, Samurai and Ricochet comes out.

"Hey guys, keep me company for awhile okay? I'm lost."

Ricochet runs off on his own into the darkness. Terry interrupts Samurai as he runs after the baby pokemon.

"I am in your service—

"Hey, Ricochet! This ain't no playground!"

"He's the one who defeated me?"

"Oh well, Follow him. We don't want to lose sight of him like how he lost Miguel and Maya," Torch says in his pokemon language.

Pokemon can see what's going on from inside the pokeball. The pokeball is transparent despite it's look.

Every time, Ricochet comes out of his pokeball, he plays tag with Terry. Every few days, Maya, Miguel, Terry and Red release all their pokemon for fresh air and training. This is when Ricochet play tag with Terry. Red is annoyed but she overlooks Samurai and Torch. Terry always has to do a few maneuvers to catch up with Ricochet. Ricochet enjoys the fun.

"Come on, Ricochet. This is not a good time to play tag," Terry shouts.

In a distance, Terry hears explosions. The explosions were not loud but someone else is definitely fighting from faraway. However, he has to get Ricochet first.

"I have to hurry," Terry says to himself.

Torch and Samurai joins him.

Creepy clown laughs echo in the ship. Terry can hear Ricochet whimper.

"Ricochet!" Terry runs in the directions of the laughs. Torch and Samurai follows him. "I'm coming for you!"

_Meanwhile…_

Maya and Miguel escape from an exploding trap.

"Where are we? Why are there so many traps and illusions? What's with the skeletons? Skeletons! Hello! Human remains after human dies! What are they guarding?" Miguel shouts.

Maya dodges a fury attack, a pokemon attack that looks like a shower of needles; she is breathing heavily from constant running.

"How do I know? We got to find Terry. Fast."

"That's right. We got to find your lover."

"Shut up."

The shower of needles stopped. Maya and Miguel continue to head west. As they move, they cross each other in case if there are any traps. They will pause occasionally in doorways to avoid incoming traps.

The approaches an opening area, the place seems like an old ballroom. However, the place is vandalized. Huge flames blow in their direction. Maya and Miguel dodge just in time. The houndoom approaches them. Maya and Miguel prepares for battle. This is now a good time to release their pokemon because there is enough space.

Terry's voice echoes throughout the ship. In the same direction, his son howls three times. The houndoom lost interest in Maya and Miguel. The houndoom disappears in the shadows as he went to the direction of the voice. Maya and Miguel follow the houndoom.

_In Ricochet's perspective…_

Ricochet is sorry for playing a game of tag at this place. This is getting creepier. Ricochet breaks down to cry. However, a haunter reveals himself to him followed by a chikorita. The chikorita gives Ricochet flowers and a tennis ball. Ricochet stops crying. Chikorita uses her vines to comfort the Ricochet. The haunter and chikorita speak in pokemon language.

"What's wrong little one? I haven't seen you around here before," the chikorita says.

"_Come on…No need to cry…"_ the haunter sings. Despite his looks he is a good singer.

Ricochet stops crying and stares at the haunter. The haunter continues to sing to amaze Ricochet.

_Back to Terry…_

"Ricochet!" Samurai, Terry and Torch yells.

They pass by a treasure room, glances at it but leaves. A gengar overlooks them.

"Strange for a human to not fall for that," the gengar leader whispers in pokemon language.

A gastly arrives to report in pokemon language; "Sir, we found a baby pokemon."

"Ricochet!"

"Is it his pokemon?" the gengar refers to Terry.

"Don't know but Tune is taking care of him right now."

Another gastly reports to the gengar, "There are other invaders. We try to scare the god out of them but they did not withdraw. It appears they are looking for someone. We have tried illusions but they have psychic pokemon with them. They saw through all of them."

This time a houndour arrives, "Dad found a pair of pokemon trainers. We got separated but I smelled their scent. All the humans and their pokemon have the same scent. They must be kin and have gotten themselves separated."

"Prepare operation. We need to defend our masters' treasures."

Samurai, Torch and Terry find pokemon surrounding Ricochet. The three of them jump in to protect baby Ricochet.

The pokemon stares at them. Ricochet stands in front of Terry and defends the pokemon. Terry stops his fighting pose and squats to Ricochet's height.

"They became your friends while you were lost?"

Ricochet nods.

"Do you have any idea what this place is? This is a dangerous place. There are dead humans here! I am glad to play tag anytime but not now!" Terry crosses arms, purses his lips and turns his head in disappointment.

Ricochet pleads him to express his apologizing. Torch tries to translate but fails. The haunter and chikorita is confused. Samurai translates correctly and they finally understand.

Ricochet continues to plead and refuses to give up. Terry lifts him up. Ricochet feels a floating feeling; Terry hugs him.

"I'm sorry. Don't ever do that again."

Ricochet flies Terry to his friends. The pokemon in the area including Samurai and Torch follows. Ricochet lands Terry softly in front of Maya.

"Did you just fly?" Maya asks.

"Nope. All Ricochet's work. He learned a few tricks while we were away," Terry rubs Ricochet's spiky head.

The pokemon complains in pokemon language.

"You can't just take Ricochet away. How about doing us a favor in term of thanks?" the chikorita says.

"Yeah! Ricochet told us your stories. We want to come along," the haunter says.

Samurai looks at Ricochet. Ricochet gives Samurai a puppy look. Samurai examines the haunter and chikorita.

The haunter and chikorita is intimidated by Samurai's look. They hug each other anxiously. Samurai exhales.

"You're lucky you met the right people," Samurai says to the pokemon. "Terry," Samurai calls in English.

"Yes?"

"Ricochet wanted to stay with them. They also wanted to leave this place. While you were away Ricochet told stories about you. They said you were kind and hilarious."

Miguel pulls Terry aside, "Talking about GOOD opportunity. We need recruits. But we need to test their abilities first—

"You're a strange group. In fact the first group I've ever heard of recruiting," a voice echoes.

An army of different types of pokemon surrounded them. The gengar in the center is the leader.

Terry, Miguel and Maya stand with their backs against each other. They each develop a fighting pose, proposing a plan together.

"Don't worry. We're not going to kill you. We followed you since you came here and heard everything. I will let Tune, Fright and Blossom join you if you past my trials," the leading gengar says.

The houndour barks delightedly. A houndour walks out of the crowd. He joins haunter and chikorita.

The houndoom that attacked Maya and Miguel protested in pokemon language, "My son never promised anything—

"Dad, I really want to go to the outside world. I told Nightmare about it but you won't listen," the houndour says.

The houndoom grunts in disapproval but accepted the fact.

"Let the trial begin!" Nightmare says in English.

The houndooms and houndours sniff Maya, Miguel and Terry. They all shake in fear but held hands to ensure each other.

All of the houndours and houndooms nod.

"Hm. Alright then. Final test. Take out as much of the pokemon here as you can. You may use your pokemon. However, I believe that won't be enough. You can only stop when I say stop."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Miguel asks.

"No, we can do it," Terry's says it sternly.

"Listen, to Terry will ya?" Maya says.

The army attacks.


	13. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Dan LouieÕs Arrest

Chapter 14: Dan Louie's Arrest

While Sharkeye is fighting with Dan's venasaur, Red takes out all the pokeballs from her side pocket three at a time with difficulty. Red pushes the button of all the pokeballs. Wreck, Tank, Flash, Rocky and Nacho comes out. Tank and Flash is already tired from the last battle.

Red walks next to Nidoking and whispers, "Nacho. I am going to free myself. Dan Louie is clever. He will soon know what I am doing. Try to take him out. If you can't take him out, hold a long battle with him. I will come to your aid as fast as I can. If all your pals are defeated, go fight the enemy pokemon yourself. I will find my way to escape. You know what to do right?" She secretly glances at Dan from time to time during the conversation.

Nacho nods in understanding.

"I will call the name of the pokemon I am going to send to battle," Red announces.

Red reaches for her SB in another side pocket with difficulty. She throws the SB on the snow and kneels.

Dan can guess what she is doing so he tries to interrupt her. Nacho gets in the way and engages a battle with Dan. Red has her back toward the SB so her tied hands behind her can press the keys of her password, 'Lucy.'

"Crap, This may take awhile," Red says.

_Meanwhile…_

One by one their pokemon are defeated despite combined attacks.

"How many more?" Miguel breathes heavily.

"Don't think…about how many…but how we defeat them!" Terry breathes.

"This is good training," Maya breathes.

"Three hundred defeated in four hours. Intriguing," Nightmare says in English. "You guys are not bad, though. There are more powerful trainers who came here. Despite that. You pass."

The army stops their attack. Terry, Miguel and Maya collapses.

"You are indeed worthy. This is not a test but a compromise. You can go but you must take good care of our children, never mention this place and never come back." Nightmare says.

"Hey, are you that cold? That meant severing family ties!" Maya says.

"Tune, Fright and Blossom already knew this. That is the consequence of leaving this place. Our ancestor's trainers as well as our will is to keep this place secret and isolated. We respect our ancestors as well as our ancestors respect their trainers. Now leave. If you don't, we will have to kill you and take back our children or you can choose to stay with us until you die."

Nightmare's words give birth to silence.

"We had enough of what we needed. Let's go," Terry put his arms around Maya and Miguel.

"How do we get out of here?" Maya asks.

"Fright's father will accompany you to the exit," Nightmare says in English.

The houndoom lead them to the cave mouth and disappears into the darkness. The party exits the cave.

Miguel waits until there is a fair distance between them and the cave.

"I wonder what treasure are they hiding. What's so secret and sacred about that place?"

"Let's just go. It doesn't matter. We got what we came for," Terry replies.

"So who will keep who?" Maya asks.

"I'll take the haunter. Ricochet likes him. A ghost type will also be a great recruit. Ricochet is a psychic type; it's good to have two opposing types. I can play double when the tough times come."

Miguel scoffs, "If it's for Ricochet, there's no argument in that. I'll take— no, wait. I have a grass type already. I'll take the houndour."

"I'll take the chikorita," Maya proposes.

The houndour barks indistinctively.

"We're not changing our pokemon names though. You must call our names translated in human language," Samurai says.

"I like that. They have individuality. But Samurai can you translate their names for us?"

"The haunter is Tune. Chikorita, Blossom and houndour, Fright."

"Cool names," Miguel says.

The trio contains their pokemon in their pokeballs.

"We need to find Red. Red can be in trouble since we all fell in a trap," Terry runs. Miguel runs after Terry followed by Maya.

_Meanwhile…_

Nacho is not holding well against Dan Louie. Tank and Rocky fainted. Flash stumbles in fatigue. Sharkeye breathes heavily and tries to keep Flash from tumbling.

"Yes!" Red says delightfully in her mind.

Red digitizes her keys. In the same time, she criticizes herself in her mind, "From now on I will keep my keys in a separate drive that is easy to find."

In less than a minute, Red freed herself from the handcuffs. On the snowfield, Wreck defeats the last of Dan's pokemon, an electabuzz.

"Nacho, thank you. Take a rest. I'll return what he did to you…TENFOLD!" Red engages with Dan in a battle.

Terry, Maya and Miguel arrive.

"There's Red!" Terry shouts.

"Don't interfere! Take care of my pokemon," Red commands.

Terry, Maya and Miguel do as Red says.

Both of them move around each other to find an opening. Their feet hit the snow at the same time and they rush at each other. They punch and kick each other. They are so fast that if the observer blinks he or she will miss some action.

"That's…White Lotus! " Terry recognizes his type of martial art taught by his mother.

"That's not surprising. She's our teacher after all," Miguel says.

Terry pays closely attention to the battle. Red is graceful, graceful enough to be a split image of his mother when his mother uses the White Lotus. The White Lotus is a graceful martial art. The White Lotus fighting style is meant to patiently evade opponents' attacks and counterattack or attack an opening at the right moment. Red has totally mastered all the stages of it.

"What else is she keeping from us?" Terry says in his mind.

Maya looks at her unbelievable rival and Miguel quietly observes.

Red's attack is countered. Dan hurls her in the air and continues ascending his attacks.

The three disciples look shocked. This is their first time to see their teacher getting beaten.

Red is being thrown on the ground from Dan's kick. Red rolls backward during the impact. Red stands up again and engages in another battle despite bruises.

This time Red uses a different style.

"Wingchuen," Terry recognizes the style. Wingchuen is similar to the White Lotus but the attacks are more powerful. The only difference is that Wingchuen concentrates more on attacking while White Lotus focuses on evading.

Red deflects his block and punches his face directly.

Dan feels his face, "I think I broke my molars. You've improved. I can't hold back anymore," Dan smiles.

Dan uses another fighting style. His hands fidget like a monkey. Red stares at him cautiously.

"The Monkey King," Terry says.

Dan starts to turn the tables. The Monkey King fighting style's strength is to confuse and sneak on opponents. What seems like a miss is actually a counterattack. Dan's hand misses on purpose but moves around Red's attacks and smacks Red continuously. On Dan's final attack, Dan surprises Red with his kick. The kick is a normal kick. Red spins backward and falls. She coughs out blood.

"RED!" Miguel and Terry shouts.

_In Red's Perspective…_

Red's vision is becoming blurry.

"No, I must focus. I have a lot to accomplish," Red says in her mind.

Red stumbles but stands up. She gets in her fighting stance.

"Like back then eh?" Dan says.

"Yeah. But this time I'm going to win," Red rushes at Dan.

Dan uses the Monkey King but this time Red's fighting style is different; she uses a mix of different techniques. The mixed techniques are able to rival the Monkey King fighting style's sneakiness.

The tables turn to favor Red. Red hits a nerve with two fingers and double kicks Dan. Dan falls a few feet away and collapses on his back. Dan grits his teeth as he tries to move but fails.

"Can you guys flip him over?" Red grins.

Dan is paralyzed. Red's disciples cooperated to flip over Dan.

Dan Louie laughs hysterically like a mad man but does not struggle. Red stares at him, passively, "you have last words?"

"That last move; I had never seen it before. I never thought you will be the one to arrest me but things are better this way. Yeah. I wiped out the last team of national police force and joined Team Rocket. Team Rocket can save me the trouble of annihilating those fools who hinders justice," Dan smiles wickedly.

Red's disciples are shocked to hear such a controversial conversation. The three of them listened carefully.

"True. You killed criminals and people that the world is better off without. However, you became a criminal as well by committing murder."

"I don't mind becoming a criminal myself. You will _never_ understand. I will _never_ regret my deeds."

"You're right. I will never understand what you had been through or what is on your mind. But why do you insist on being a vigilante? Is it even worth it? Is doing what you are doing and letting the hatred, anger and sorrow get on your mind worth it? You have a brilliant mind and would have become a great detective. If you think the system is inadequate, do something to change it! I became a bounty hunter because of the same reason, purifying the world."

"Your words are intriguingly poetic but I am stubborn, and still not regretting my deeds," This time Dan smiles from his heart at Red. "Before you bring me to the Bounty Hunters Association, I must say this: Take my SB. The password is 'hell fire.' Take all the items you need for your future journey and handle the document with seal with care. You must read the contents," Dan's face becomes stern when he mentions the documents.

Red takes his SB and digitizes the entire SB into her SB. While Red is doing it, Dan studies Terry and smiles. Terry stares at him blankly.

When Red is done, Red approaches Dan with handcuffs.

"Red, I love you and I am glad you found your brother," Dan says sincerely.

The handcuffs close on Dan's wrists. Dan disappears in a flash.

"Brother? What is he talking about? Why is he staring at me a second ago?" Terry asks.

Miguel starts to be suspicious. Judging Red's attitude, she would hardly accept students. She is often nice to Terry, nice enough to make Maya jealous.


	14. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Legend of Greyhound

Chapter 15: Jack and Rose

The party descended the Himalayas but they are still in the area. Another snowstorm has arrived. They are now resting in a cabin hotel owned by a family. The boys and girls sleep in separate rooms. Maya sleeps soundly. Red gets up and sits at a table at the living room. The cabin is complex and huge. The family has their own house connected to three dwellings. Terry and his friends occupy one of the dwellings. Terry is still sleeping soundly across from Miguel. Miguel's mind is filled with questions about Dan and Team Rocket. He decides to get out of bed and drink milk.

Miguel comes out of the room and sees Red sitting still and quietly on the table. Red looks out the window with an elbow supporting a side of her face.

"What drives you so early?"

"What drives _you _so early?" Red turns her head to Miguel's direction.

"Couldn't sleep. Didn't know why. I plan to drink milk to fall back into slumber but I have many questions and this seems to be a great opportunity to ask," Miguel looks around the living room. There is no one except for Red and him.

"What do you want to ask?"

"I don't think you will easily accept disciples. Why did you accept us?"

"You're talented."

"No, I believe it is more than that."

"Believe what you will."

The storm whips heavily against the window. The winds can be heard howling from outside the cabin.

"Is Terry your brother? If he is your brother, are you sure?"

"What makes you think that way?"

"There are a lot of incidences. You know Terry's style of fighting that is only taught by his mother. You give Terry a noogie, a lot. You laugh at Terry a lot. You seem to give him this motherly feeling. Finally, what Dan has said before you arrested him."

Red smiles; she knows she can no longer keep this a secret.

"Remember the first time I met you three? When the three of you were unconscious, I snuck into Terry's room and cut pieces of his hair. I went to the DNA lab and got an immediate response. He is indeed my blood related brother."

"I see, but why will you want to keep it from him?"

"Want to hear a story? Before I tell, I must warn you. Do not tell anyone. And I mean it," Red's face darkens in a horrifying expression.

Miguel is taken aback, "Okay. You have my word." "But if you're dying, you can do your worst to me. I don't care. I am telling Terry the truth." Miguel's intense stare did not shift.

"Just remember what I said."

"Well, what happened?"

"A generation ago…

_Flashback…_

_The government knew the existence of an underground organization named Team Rocket. Team Rocket threatened to take over the current government and replace it with dictatorship. Team Rocket is the core to all the black market, drug trades, illegal poaching and terrorist activities in the world. Team Rocket has more funding than the current government because of the criminal businesses. A female spy by the name of Rose Creek is sent to infiltrate the organization. Within Team Rocket, she meets Jack Li. Jack was a famous selfish scrooge within the organization. He was an orphan raised by Giovanni's men. He never smiles and is stiff like a log. However, Rose changed everything and brought light into his gloom world. Rose influenced Jack to have courage to go against the organization. Rose secretly passed in evidence she gathered in Team Rocket to her superior, before they requested retirement at early age and fled the organization. Jack does not know this. Rose promised him to let go of everything and live in peace with him. The secret is kept for ten years. During those ten years, they lived happily in a house in a humble town, Honeyville. They gave birth to two children. The older one is I, Red and the younger one is Terry. We are four years apart._

_We went to school together there but everything was crumbled one night._

_I was nine and Terry was five. Our parents' argument woke us up in the middle of the night. We listened to their conversation from our bedroom door. They argued downstairs._

_"This explains why Giovanni has been after us for all these years. __You__ leaked out their information."_

_"Jack, you've seen horrors of Team Rocket. There is no one to stop the organization except us. Besides, I don't trust Giovanni. He won't let go of us that easily. That day when he said to let us go, well, his eyes tell the opposite."_

_"You're right. But you lied to me…_

_Suddenly there was a loud explosion. Both my parents quickly ran upstairs to get the us._

_I took Terry's hand and ran out the room. The floor under Terry collapses. I held his hand but before I can drag him back up, the ceiling falls. I…had to let go but I had to blame myself for a while. My brother and I were separated since then. My mom jumped to where Terry was and dug for him through the wreckage. I immediately ran to help mom but my dad picked me up._

_"No! Trust me on this one! We'll be fine! Take Red and get out of here!"_

_My father looked at mom with intense regret. Mom nodded without hesitation. My dad left in a flash. Before my father left the house, I saw a glimpse of Terry and Mom. The burning ceiling fell on them. _

"_Mom! Terry!" _

_Dad kicks open the door despite the fire. Five police cars surrounded our house. All the neighbors are awake. The streets are mass chaos so no one came out of their houses. _

_Fifty Team Rocket members got out of the police cars, and pointed their pokemon at my father and I. Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket exits the car and approaches us. Team Rocket must have took over the town so the police cars are infested with their people._

_I hugged my father's leg in fear but my father put his huge arm around my shoulder in assurance._

"_Giovanni, what drives you here?"_

"_Jack, why do you have to make this hard for us? I really wanted you to be the next Team Rocket leader. Weren't we best friends since when you were little? Come back, my friend. Have your family come back and join us. We will share our wealth together."_

_"Sorry. I can't. I've got to set an example for my kids. I don't want my kids to walk the same path I did."_

_Giovanni stared at my father. My father stared back. Giovanni exhales._

_"We'll have to do this the hard way. I'll make you come back even though you will hate me and even though I have to kill you."_

_Giovanni snapped his finger. A Team Rocket member pushed the button. The house exploded into smithereens. Only our bedroom remained._

_I looked at the remains of my house, speechless. I grasped my father's leg tighter and hid behind him as I glanced at the pokemon crowd. _

_"You win. I'm coming back but you please look for my wife and son within the wreckage," father said calmly._

_Giovanni commanded them to have water pokemon pour rain upon the wreckage. They searched the wreckage but no body was found. Giovanni grunted._

_I looked at my father; a tiny hope erupted within him._

_"I left a place in your house untouched with bombs. I'm glad that your son and wife has survived. And escaped... However, Jack… If you ever betray and leave Team Rocket again... Remember, your wife and son's lives are at stake. We can look for them and slain them anytime…" The words echoed in both me and my father's ears._


End file.
